Higher Processing
by SaixPeregrinus
Summary: Jessica ended the war with the Reapers in a massive Green explosion. Now, the Reapers want to attempt to co-exist with the Galactic community, but can old enmities be pushed aside so easily? As Liara and Jessica attempt to create a life together, Galactic issues continue to plague them. AU Synthesis. Rated for language and content.
1. Prologue: Recovery

**A/N:** This is set in an AU version of Synthesis. More on that, LATER (not very, I hope?). At any rate, the first few chapters may feel a bit slow, as they are a bit heavier in the drama and fairly... lacking? in action or romance. But that is how the blocks fell into place when I sketched out the arc.

**Disclaimer:** Bioware created everything, and I rearranged the furniture. So yeah, go them!

* * *

Liara's armor was coated in deep hues of dark purple and red where asari and human blood had stained it, dirt clinging to the gore on her once white battle attire. She had been hit by shrapnel after the Mako in front of her exploded, in the final charge on Earth. She could still remember the sound of battle, the visceral crunching of bodies as they were flung by explosions and biotics. The Reaper as it landed before them. The sound of fear coming from Jessica Shepard. Fear not directed at her own well being, but towards Liara, as the Mako's fuel capacitors were ignited and a near-instantaneous explosion ensued.

The pain as the shrapnel had cut into her was immeasurable. White hot metal had ignored her kinetic barriers and cut deep into her sides. She looked up, seeing Jess crouched over her, no tears on her face. Instead of tears, Jessica's face was hard, not moving, set in an all too common battlefield grimace. Liara had seen such an expression on lover's face before, but never so tight, never so laced with worry as it was now. Liara's heart fluttered, and she realized what the bond she and Jess had committed to just before the battle had meant. In Jessica's eyes was not the cool, collected, calculated woman that led with calm and coordinated action. No, instead was the look of a person so consumed in worry and anger, worry for Liara's safety and anger at the ones who had done this to her, that she would move mountains to tear at her foes.

Suddenly, Liara was being hoisted up, as she heard Shepard yell into her comm unit, "Joker, I need an EVAC, NOW!"

The Normandy descended further back, and Garrus rushed into the opened shuttle bay. Shepard was still carrying Liara up the hill, cursing and stumbling as she went. As she reached the Normandy, Garrus rushed out and took Liara from Shepard, a knowing look shared between the two as Liara was taken further into the ship.

Liara turned to grab Jessica's hand, only to realize Jess is not there now. She looks frantically, and sees Shepard still standing outside the Normandy, shouting orders and seeming to begin to tear away from the ship. Liara cries out, "Jessica!" and a sob escapes her as tears form.

Shepard looks at the Reaper behind her, then back at Liara. Liara is putting her entire soul into her eyes, begging for Shepard to stay with her, to come back on the Normandy, to hold her and never let her go. Shepard reaches out, takes her hand, and whispers "I love you, Li."

Liara's sobs climb from silent, racking gasps to outright wails as she watches Shepard turn her back on the Normandy and head back to the fighting. Liara, choking back further tears long enough, calls out after Shepard, "I.. I love you" as Shepard lunges back into the charge.

Garrus and Tali drag Liara to the elevator, and the three of them head to the medbay. Liara casts about, grimacing at the wounds Garrus carries as well. She feels faint, and the wounds from the Mako are beginning to register in her mind. Liara slumps more heavily as the pain shoots through her system, and she cries out for Shepard once again. Garrus braces her, looking at Tali with worry. "Liara, your injuries are serious. We need to get you patched up, so you'll be here when she gets back. It is going to ok, Liara. Really." but his glance to Tali told of a lack of conviction. Shepard's fate was an unknown now, and while nobody ever counted her out, the odds seemed too far gone.

Liara nodded, missing the glance. She had begun to feel dizzy, and the calculating Shadow Broker side of her was unable to take hold, to formulate a plan. As she entered the medbay, a flurry of crew under the direction of Dr. Chakwas began cleaning wounds and applying medigel. Garrus had been taken to a separate corner, his wounds much less problematic. A severe set of shock wracked Liara as the armor that had been seared into the openings of her wounds was removed, and the room began to spin. A sedative was administered, and the grim work continued.

* * *

Joker was frantically maneuvering the ship, with EDI's help, to avoid Reaper lasers and friendly fire. He was also slowly maneuvering towards the Citadel, in the hope that he could aid Shepard in a daring escape, or help drop an EVAC team, or hell, whatever it was they could do. The one thing Joker knew was that Shepard was getting out of this, one way or another. She always did. It wasn't a question of if, but when, and Joker would be damned if he wasn't ready for her.

Garrus had joined Joker now, his injuries cleaned and bandaged. He seemed as dead set as Joker to get through to the citadel, to Shepard. Taking the targeting system from EDI, Garrus began to clear a haphazard and temporary clearing through the mass of reaper forces. The Citadel was being closed on.

* * *

Dr. Chakwas had finished cleaning the most severe of Liara's wounds, and preliminary analysis showed little deterioration. Liara was semi-lucid, as the sedatives began to work their way out of her system. It helped that the shock had set all her systems into a miniature overdrive, as her metabolism helped chew through the sedative at a heightened pace.

Liara requested to be let out of the Medbay. As Chakwas was preoccupied with other patients and Liara was, for the most part, as far along as the minor facilities would allow, she was allowed. Liara headed to observation to at least gather her bearings. She couldn't organize a coherent plan that made any sense to her on the issue of Jess. It was these damned Reapers. They were in the way, would stop her from achieving what she wanted, and she couldn't get rid of them. Liara leaned into the glass, the Citadel in view, and noted that their trajectory was, at least slightly, in favor of reaching it. She smiled. If anyone could get there, it was Joker.

Just then, a loud humming shook the ship. Confused, Liara patched to Joker. "What was that, Joker? What is going on?"

Instead of Joker, Garrus answered. That made sense, Garrus was never one to let others do the fighting for him. "We're not sure Liara. If you can see the Citadel, there seems to be a light pulsing from where the Crucible is docked. Maybe Shepard is causing it. Never count her to be out of the fight."

Liara looked back at the Citadel. It was, indeed, pulsing. Every 'THUMMMMMMM' the light would grow brighter than the previous cycle, and as the noise died down, it would grow dark again. The pattern had taken on a rhythm similar to that of a heartbeat; Two deep hums and a pause. The pace seemed to be alive, quickening and dying down at irregular intervals.

Suddenly, Admiral Hackett was over the ships comm systems. "The Crucible is active, all remaining ships report to your fleets designated rendezvous zones. NOW!"

The pulsing white light had ceased. Everything seemed so quiet. Even the Reapers had broken the battlelines momentarily, seemingly confused by the phenomenon. Just as suddenly as silence and fallen, a great rush of energy, like a solar wind, jettisoned outwards from the Citadel. The Normandy, which was still heading towards the Citadel, rocked heavily as it's Mass Effect fields flickered. Ashley rushed to the pilot's chair and shook Joker. "Joker, we have to get out of here, NOW!" she yelled, summoning every bit of her XO command into her voice.

Joker shook his head, "No no no no no." he pleaded with his earlier convictions.

Grudgingly, the Normandy made a fast turn and bee lined for the Mass Relay. Too much time had been wasted, though. The Citadel began radiating a green light, thick enough to obstruct visibility. The humming returned, the pace quickening exponentially. With each new "THUMMMM" the green energy expanded outward and rapidly retreated for the next "THUMMMM" Suddenly the rhythm stopped, and a constant, ear shattering note seemingly originated from the Citadel. The green energy expanded rapidly, coating everything in it's path and disabling all Mass Effect fields it came into contact with momentarily. While the ball expanded across the entire system, a secondary set of the energy shot out from the citadel, striking the Mass Relay.

As the crew of the Normandy watched in horror, the Mass Relay reversed its normal rotation of the rings and the core turned Green. After a few moments, the rapidly accelerating rings stopped and a green beam shot from the Relay, as well. Then, the rings fell away from the Relay and it seemed to power down. The Normandy was adrift. The Mass Relay was deactivated, the Crucible had been consumed in the blast, and the Citadel was severely damaged. Many of the crew had gathered near windows to look at the Citadel, the worst being thought of the survival of Commander Shepard.

Liara slunk onto the couches near the observation window. Around her, crew members thronged, trying to see what was left of the battle, the Citadel, and of Earth. Feeling collapsed upon from all sides, Liara fell away from reality, into her own mind. Sitting on that couch, as if in a trance, Liara began to think of loved ones, from Jessica and Benezia to even Aethyta. A sob choked out from her, echoing in her mind. This wasn't fair. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Shepard had promised her that she'd always come back, that she'd always be there. If Liara had to do the leg work to keep that promise for Jessica, then she would. The calculating Shadow Broker took over, and plans began to form.

* * *

Garrus was in the main battery. The Turian had been through hell on more than one occasion, but this time it stung. Worse than being blocked in his investigation on Saren, worse than losing his squad on Omega, Garrus felt panged at what had to be Shepard's death, deeply hurt by the implications, and by the loss itself. She was like a sister to him. No, more, a Sister-in-Arms. They had always been at each others backs, ready to face down any challenge. When he wanted more on Saren, she had been there helping him do it. When he was cornered on Omega, she had helped him get out live. When he had found Sidonis, she had helped him track the weasel down; and when he was about to take the shot, changing his character entirely in one swift motion, she had been there to talk him down.

Without Shepard, where would he go? What would he do? Who could he confide in? He sighed. As hard as this must be on him, the empathy he had picked up in his time spent with Shepard reached out for Liara. What of the poor Asari, so young by her people's reckoning. Would she recover from such a loss? Would she -

Liara opened the door the the Main Battery. "Garrus, I need you to get up and come with me." she ordered, although it seemed half-hearted.

Garrus looked at her, bewildered. "What are you.. Where are you going Liara?" he asked incredulously.

"To find my Commander, Garrus. I have to find Shepard." The tears welled up in her eyes. "You know her best, know what she is capable of. If anyone could have survived that… She has to be out there. I can't lose her again." The asari had turned away from Garrus, and was standing close to the corner, looking at the floor.

Garrus sighed. It was true, Shepard was the only person he could imagine living through this. The trouble was, he didn't think even she could have. "Look, Liara… I know how hard this must be, especially a second time. Not many people can suggest they've lost someone so dear to them twice. But…"

The Asari had turned to him, her eyes imploring, begging for him to indulge her fantasy. It seemed to Garrus that Liara was harboring similar doubts, but she couldn't let herself see them through first.

"Alright, yes. When do we leave, and where are we going, Liara?"

"Thank you Garrus. Thank you so very much. We need to collect one more person, and then we are going to borrow the Kodiak for an expedition to the Citadel." Liara seemed stronger now, as if Garrus agreeing to this was what she needed to convince herself the plan wasn't impossible.

Garrus inwardly groaned. He wasn't sure if he had been played by the Asari or himself, but his course was set now.

* * *

The Normandy had not had an opportunity to attempt a rescue mission for Steve Cortez yet, so James Vega was set in charge of Steve's regular duties. At the moment, he was reviewing the remaining Kodiak and trying to keep himself pre-occupied. They had all known the danger going in. Hell, Lola had known the most. It was miraculous that so few came out with injuries, and that the only two MIA were the commander and Steve. Still, Vega was having a relapse of survivors guilt from his previous command during the Collectors attacks on the colonies. It was the same pain, only amplified by the fact that instead of failing to command, he had been commanded in a way that saved him and the crew from the brunt of the attack. Despite being a sniper, Lola seemed to always absorb anything she could for the team.

Earlier, LTC Ashley Williams had dropped by to see how he was doing. When Vega had brushed her off, Ashley decided to stay, in order to keep an eye on him. Ashley still remembered the commanders words on Vega; He was a good soldier, a good man, but he took loss poorly, and had a tendency to blame himself for things that were impossible to be his fault. When Ashley had tried to suggest to the commander that Shepard suffered from a similar, all she had received was a glare. However, despite the commanders inability to self-reflect, she seemed to be accurate on Vega.

Ashley was at the weapons bench when Liara and Garrus arrived. She didn't even have to turn around, merely saying "About damn time, Liara."

Liara looked at her, confused for a moment, before realizing that Ashley was already on board. Liara beamed happily, "Well, if you are that ready, we need to go, now. Jess.. Shepard could be in danger."

"She's been in danger since we landed on Earth, Liara. A little more won't hurt. Besides, I'm adding one more to your crew. After all, we need a pilot." Ashley said, calling out at James "Hey, Vega, are you done whining to yourself? We need a ride."

Vega looked out, seeing Liara and Garrus. He was about to ask what for when it hit him. They were going out to look for Lola. Vega simply nodded and went to suit up.

Ashley sighed. She needed him to break this silent streak so she could reason with him. _'How am I going to force the issue,'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

As the Kodiak rushed through the wreckage, Liara explained her plan to the team. "Jess's armor should have an automatic beacon that sets off if her vital signs have dropped. If that isn't the case, and shes above the threshold, we will have to comb through the wreckage. It may be that she attempts to signal any nearby ship with a makeshift signal. Keep all channels open, and scan for them, as a precaution."

The Kodiak rushed past the ruined stations arms, and began its descent to the Citadel Tower. All four were staring at the refuse of the Citadel, a place they had spent so much time in. To see something so massive, so populated, utterly smashed as it was, and with limited to no life moving though out it.. the implications were too terrifying to comprehend willingly.

PING PING... PING PING... PING PING...

The noise had started to be audible as the Kodiak passed the Citadel Tower and had maneuvered closer to the Presidium itself.

PING PING... PING PING... PING PING...

Jessica Shepard lay on the steps of the Apollo Cafe, her body bent, broken, burned. The automatic beacon had activated some time before they had arrived, and was the only noise in the entirety of the Citadel outside of the Kodiak.

Liara's breath caught as she saw her bondmate, her partner for life, strewn across the stairs they had so often climbed together while away from the Normandy during the war. Tears came unhindered, although whether of joy at having found her beloved or in fear of the immense injuries Jess had incurred, she was not sure.

"Quickly, Vega, drop us near the Cafe. NOW, dammit." Ashley barks.

"Oh, Lola…" Vega breaths. The commanders body seems to confirm his ultimate fear, and his eyes seem to lose light.

"Dammit Vega, we don't have time for this. Garrus, Liara, go collect the Commander. Vega. VEGA. Look at me Vega." Ashley is shouting now, attempting to use the shock to break his shell.

Liara and Garrus disembarked. As they closed the distance, the extent of Shepard's injuries became more and more evident. Garrus looked down, thinking to himself _'Is this how you felt, Shepard? When I was laying on the ground from that gunship wound on Omega?'_

Liara was sobbing loudly now, collecting Jessica's head in her lap, cradling her beloved back and forth as her tears dripped on Shepard's burnt face. She couldn't stop, she couldn't lose Jess, not again.

Garrus put a hand on Liara's shoulder. "Hey.. Hey now. It's OK. Let's get Shepard back to the ship, see what Chakwas can do..." he said, as he helped Liara to her feet. She pulled Garrus in, hugging him tightly, seeking comfort. Garrus's arms fell about her awkwardly, as he soothed her.

* * *

Ashley was shaking Vega and talking. It was incoherent to him, only registering the volume. Vega's eyes were transfixed on Shepard. He watched as Liara ran to her, cradled her, cried over her. His own tears flowed as he watched Garrus comfort her, as they collected a litter, lifted Lola on it, and began the trek back.

Suddenly, it was the day after they left Mars again. Vega was cursing; cursing Shepard, cursing Liara, cursing Hackett. Damn them all, he belonged on Earth. He needed to be on Earth. He couldn't be rash and excited here. He couldn't fight without abandon here. The team relied on each other. He needed to be on his own, to strike out on his own.

Then Shepard had come down. They exchanged flirtations, unexpectedly. Vega had hoped to embarrass her away. She kept digging, trying to learn his past service history. Finally annoyed enough, he offered to tell her if she sparred with him. She kept the questions coming, took cheap shots when he let his guard down, and avoided allowing him to land any lasting blows on her. At the end, she told him he couldn't blame himself, that he had done the best he could with what he got. And she seemed to mean it, as if personal experience fueled her.

Coming back to reality, Ashley was sitting next to him, shaking, tears falling off her small, pretty face. "What's up LTC?" Vega asked.

Ashley turned to him, "Why her Vega? Why Shepard. It could have been any of us. She deserved more, deserved better."

Vega put an arm around Ashley, trying to comfort her. "Hey.. Hey, it's alright. Lola won't let this take her down. She's just recuperating, getting ready to prove to the universe that it takes more than some filthy Reapers to kill her."

Ashley laughed a bit at this, her tears subsiding slightly, then looked at him, concerned. "Where did you go, Vega? I was trying to talk to you, but you were completely zoned out."

Vega looked away, sheepishly. "I was - uh - gettin' some advice from Lola. She told me to, erm, stop being an idiot and blaming myself for everything. She sounded real mad at me, so I thought I should listen."

Ashley looked at him, smiling slightly. "That's good to hear Vega. That's good to hear."


	2. Ch1: Field Medicine

**A/N: **Shepard's back on the Normandy, but in pretty rough shape. Graphic imagery might be an issue, depending on how well it was written and how squeamish people are about surgery. Also, as a not-doctor person, my whole knowledge of it is kinda... bad? so, my medical scenes may be kinda bare.

* * *

After arriving back at the Normandy, Garrus and Vega rushed the Commander to the medbay. Dr. Chakwas had been given a description of Shepard's condition on the shuttle flight back, and preparations across the ship were being made. Chakwas had, prior to their arrival, had the entire medbay cleared of other crew members; a temporary medical facility was being set up on the observation deck.

Once Shepard was in the medbay, Chakwas began the difficult process of assessing the Commander's injuries. Few were minor, most being serious to the point of fatality. The one factor that had saved Shepard, as far as Chakwas could discern, was that her N7 heavy armor had fused to her body, especially around the torso. Unfortunately, it also disallowed Chakwas the ability to prepare a full analysis, much less begin preliminary work to prevent infection. The Normandy was not equipped to deal with such extreme cases, and what Chakwas could do would only cause great risk to the Commander without proper equipment and staff. The threat of infection, however, demanded something be done.

Liara had followed Shepard's body into the medbay. Shock still crossed her face at the sight of the lacerations, burns, and bone that shone through Shepard's arm and face. It looked like her right arm had snapped, and her left cheek bone stuck out prominently. Shepard's left shin also peeked through the mass of flesh surrounding it, and one could only imagine what the torso looked like. Despite all of this, Liara detected a faint breathing, and the slightest of rolls in Shepard's chest.

_'How could someone survive so much punishment?'_ Liara thought quietly to herself.

"What can you do, doctor?" Liara asked, bee lining for Chakwas as soon as the doctor had left her computer.

Chakwas fell into a slump. "I don't have the ability or the equipment to help her, Liara. We absolutely **must** remove that armor, but it is the only thing holding her together at this point. Removing the armor could collapse the structure of her body, and leaving it risks heavy infection setting in."

Tears came, unbidden, to Liara again. No. She would not cry. She had to help, had to find a way. What would Shepard say if she gave up, this close? Tormenting herself with such questions, Liara's mental focus reduced. Her emotions plied on her biotic strength, and her body crackled with energy.

Looking over at Liara, Chakwas had an idea. While she didn't have the equipment to support the structure of Shepard's body - the machine would have supported it through mass effect fields - Liara's biotics could substitute, allowing the doctor to gradually set more tradition supports and bandages in place while they removed the armor. Grabbing Liara and shaking her, Chakwas started to explain. "Liara. **Liara!** Listen to me, dear. I need you to help me. I've thought of a way to help Sheaprd, but I must have you with me. I must have you help me."

Chakwas outlined what was to be done; the doctor would begin to cut away the edge of the armor, and peel it back. As this occurred, Liara would start a stasis field around the Commander's body, in order to hold the body together. It would be a gruesome business, but after they were done, Shepard's legs and torso would be completely held together by Liara's biotics. Then, heavy coats of cleaning solution, followed by medigel, would be applied to the open wounds. Finally, heavy bandages, with supports set along the more firm and untouched areas, would be placed over the Commander's body to allow for a semblance of form when she was finally moved to a more permanent facility.

As work began, the doctor noted something... odd. Upon the first incision, a small amount of blood had spurted forth. Unexpected, the doctor had dismissed it as a small pocket that had been partitioned from the body in some way. However, upon continuing the cut, it became clear that Shepard's blood stream, while weak, was still operating. This would bog down the work dramatically, as the melted armor quickly became slick with fresh coats of blood. This was entirely separate from Liara's wounds, which had been immediate area fusing only. Shepard's entire armor seemed a second skin now. Unable to continue, the doctor had cast about for another way to remove the armor.

EDI offered assistance, by taking control of the bed Shepard was in specifically, and using the meditool to begin the operation at a microscopic level of proficiency. With EDI cutting the fused material off as close as possible to the surface, the doctor began to clean and dress the wound. They had started at the chest, and over the course of ten hours, had reached the waist point. The process had been... sickening, to say the least. Shepard's epidermis had been reduced from the normal seven layers to a set of two that EDI had managed to avoid removing in most places. Basically translucent, and extremely raw, the skin oozed a sticky mixture of blood and antibodies as it tried to scrub itself. The stench was horrid, as Chakwas washed over the thin membrane carefully, and placed medigel over it liberally following that. Chakwas finished the most recent set of bandages, as Liara wearily sat back on another table.

Tears now truly did stream down Liara's face. She had just watched Jessica be peeled open like some sort of can, and the sight, both gruesome and repugnant, had scared her far more. The grief and stress washed over her as she looked at Shepard, now half mummified, the semblance of form showing through the curvatures of the bandages.

Chakwas knew that Liara was near her breaking point. She also knew they had to finish the legs. However, it seemed to Chakwas that the clock was rolling backwards for them. As they had progressed, the cutting had become easier for EDI, and a smaller amount of tissue had been lost. Further, less and less infection had had to be dealt with as they progressed, and points that should have been continued lines of breaks in her bones only showed as fractures. It almost seemed like, the longer it took them to reach an injury, the less traumatic the damage was.

Sharing this information with Liara seemed to put the steel back into her. The next six hours progressed quickly, and soon Shepard's body was clean and well tended.

A total eighteen hours after beginning the process, Chakwas opened the medbay back to normal operational use, and allowed crew members to come and pay respects to their Commander.

* * *

It was late in the evening. Four days had passed since the crucible had fired, two since Shepard had been declared medically stable by Chakwas. Liara was in her cabin, her comm disabled, her door locked. She had neglected her Shadow Broker duties entirely. Instead, Liara sat on her bed, curled around one of her pillows, staring at pictures of Shepard since they had met; Of the crew aboard the SSV Normandy SR-1, Jessica, Garrus, and her in front of the Mako, the visit to Ilium, a picture of Liara smiling and shying away on the Presidium at her favorite perch as Jessica stood with her. The picture of all the surviving members of the Normandy, SR-1 and SR-2, at the Shore Leave party at Anderson's apartment. Liara wished, despite all they had gained, that these wonderful moments would return. That Shepard would be fine, would walk in, and would comfort her, just as she had after Thessia had fallen. Just as she had after Benezia had died. _'Goddess,'_ Liara thought to herself, _'What I wouldn't give to just be held by her right now.'_

* * *

After the pulsing green light had ceased, the reapers had beaten a full retreat. Any reaper units that had been trapped or cut off were annihilated, and the rest had regrouped in the most remote parts of each star system. Hackett was receiving reports of tides turning on all fronts. Earth was free, Palaven liberated, Thessia unshackled. The only report he had yet to receive was from the SSV Normandy SR-2. The whole galaxy had been requesting news of Commander Shepard, and despite his best, Hackett was running out of delaying tactics on the subject that he too was in the dark on.

The fleets had all rendezvoused at their appropriate regions of space, and reconstruction had begun in all systems except Earth. The human fleet had been forced to abandon the system in order to save itself from any aftershocks of the Crucible firing. Instead, Hackett had directed human forces to Asari space, and they were currently being supplied by the Asari. No news of the Reapers had surfaced in two days since the final confrontation had ended. Hackett was unsure of what to do. With the relay system offline and projected repairs reaching into an estimate of six to ten months, there was little hope of rallying the fleet to hold off another attack.

Hackett hated playing the waiting game. It was worse than losing a battle. At least effort and skill had been tested in a defeat. Suddenly, a vidcom flickered online, the leaders of each fleet already patched through. "Admiral Hackett, we have reports in all systems flooding in. The Reapers are amassing at the Mass Relays."

Hackett froze. If the fleets were attacked while this disorganized, it would be a slaughter. Besides, the Reapers had as much need for the Mass Relays as them. _'What could they be doing?'_ he wondered. "Order all fleets to stand down and play defense. Under no circumstance do we engage the enemy. It is our prerogative to survive, not to go down as heroes. Do you understand me?" One by one, the leaders of each fleet signed off.

* * *

Two days ago, the Reapers had swarmed the Mass Relay. Joker looked out at the mass of Reaper ships. What could they possibly be doing?

Suddenly, as if to answer his question, they turned away from the Mass Relay and bee lined straight towards the Normandy. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit." Joker moaned. Connecting to the comm system, he added "Brace for evasive maneuvers. Reaper forces inbound." as he began to avoid Reaper ships flying past.

Wait. They were flying past... Joker looked at the scanners, and asked EDI for a report. "The Reapers seem to be on a direct course for the Citadel. It is unclear what they will do, as there seems to be little value in the target with regards to their previous activities." EDI replied, confusion seeming to peal across her voice.

Joker now looked at her oddly. "EDI, what did you just say?"

"I said, Mr. Moreau," she began, a slight irritability creeping into her voice, "That the Reapers seem to be on a dir-"

"Shhh-shh-sh-sh-sh." Joker said, putting a finger to her mouth. "I meant, how did you say it?"

"I do not understand. What are you inferring towards, Jeff?" EDI said, worry now appearing in slight tones.

"I. Well. Hmmm. We need to talk more, later, I think, EDI." Joker said, confident he could sense something else in the AI besides, well, being an AI.

Turning the comm system back on, Joker gave the all clear. Orienting the ship towards the Citadel, he began to watch in awe.

* * *

Two days had passed. The Reapers had been at each Mass Relay for a full two days now with little movement elsewhere. Hackett was unsure of what to do. Each system was severely outmatched, and without a fast way to regroup and fall upon one set of the enemy, there was no way to strike a decisive blow. Yet again, he was stuck waiting. And still, no word on Shepard.

The vid comm sprung to life. Again, as the past two, the fleet commanders patched in. However, most appeared to be smiling, happy and chomping at the bit to report. As the final few joined, Hackett saw that even those who hadn't seem anticipatory of the meeting were being delivered new intel that had put the skip back in their step.

"What news?" Hackett asked generally.

Primarch Victus spoke first, "New intel informs me that.. the Reapers have reactivated the Mass Relay in our system, and have left the system. Course unknown."

Delatross Linron then added, "Yes, we too have similar information."

Just then, Councilor Tevos joined Hackett in the vid comm room on Thessia. Breathlessly, she handed him the report. "I thought I should bring it myself, to express to you the urgency of it." Tevos seemed breathless, as if she had ran there. Something was off.

Looking at the report, Hackett turned back to the joint fleet commanders. "I have just received similar intelligence for Asari space. I assume that this is true for all other fleets, as well then?" One by one, each commander detailed their intel as being similar. Hackett breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever Shepard had done in the Crucible seemed to have kicked the fight out of the Reapers, at least for now. "Alright, I want reconstruction details drawn up for each species. All of your resources are to be put towards a swift reconstruction. I'll need details from every fleet that can spare them for a trip to the Sol System, to reconnoiter the Relay and Citadel, as well as Earth. If all looks well, we will finally be able to put this blasted war behind us, and begin rebuilding Galactic ties."

A few nervous shifts went through the fleet commanders. Of all the entities in the Galactic Fleet, humanity had come out, yet again, on top. While they had avoided a power grab when Sovereign had attacked the Citadel four years prior, that had been in no small part due to the efforts of Commander Shepard, whom none had heard any word from or of in the past four days since the crucible had fired.

Just then, a weak signal began to patch into Hackett's system. Through the distortion, a faint amount of speech could be discerned.

"...this is SSV Normandy requesting...We need immediate EVAC...Commander...pard is in Critica...ition. Please respond immedi...ly."

"Clean this up," Hackett shouted through the ship's comms, "I need this feed now, dammit."

"He...o. Is any...e there? This is L...C Ashley Williams, XO of the SSV Normandy. If anyone is receiving this, please respond immediately. Again, this is SSV Normandy requesting medical attention. We need immediate EVAC. We have recovered Commander Jessica Shepard's body, and begun field surgery. Shepard is in Critical Condition. Please respond immediately. Hello. Hello. Is anyone there? This is LTC Ashley Williams, XO of the SSV Normandy."

"Cut it there." Hackett said. He turned to the joint commanders. "I have just received an automated message from the SSV Normandy. It appears Shepard's body has been recovered and is in need of immediate medical care. A scout party is going to be readied and sent through to the Sol System in the next six Galactic hours. Let's bring home the hero of the war."

Sudden hope for moderation appeared, and each species pledged a certain amount of ships to see the Commander home. Every group in the galaxy owed her some debt, and had been party to her diplomatic ability in the past. If a figurehead for a return to the norm existed, it would be Shepard. After a lengthy debate, it was decided that Thessia, which had been hit latest in the war, and still had relative continuity in systems, would serve as the world of recovery for Shepard. A new mission was drawn up, in which a scouting party of Turian, Asari, and Human ships would head through the Sol Relay and return to Thessia with the Normandy and Shepard.

They could finally act. Hackett breathed deeply. _'Now the real battles would begin,'_ he thought. The political sphere was crackling with tension. Hopefully Shepard would come out of this swinging.

* * *

Ashley Williams paced the CIC, reflecting on the past week. She had sent a message three days ago, after Chakwas and Liara had finished tending to Shepard's body. Hope was still open, as Chakwas had been reporting on improving vital signs, but Ashley knew they needed better equipment to ensure a strong recovery. As of yet, the commander was still unresponsive, as if in some sort of coma. This, again, Chakwas guaranteed was not an issue, as the Commander's brain showed heightened levels of activity, as well as over-active rapid-eye-movement cycles. Still, Ashley was not convinced that the Commander's condition was improving quite as well as was being reported.

Five days had passed since the firing of the crucible, and they had received no word, from either the resistance forces on Earth, or the fleets. It had been a full day since the Relay had been repaired, and the crew had been debating going through it to find help for the Commander elsewhere. Garrus and Tali argued that Palaven would be the best bet, but Joker refused to head there due to the extant of destruction the Reapers had already done to the planet at that point. Javik and Vega had suggested Thessia, as the asari had been attacked late in the war, and if the Crucible had stopped the Reapers, it would be the most intact.

EDI was unusually quiet, having holed up even her body in the AI Core for the past few days. Liara, also, had been unresponsive, her sorrow having fully unwound, as it had after Thessia. Unlike Thessia, though, none of the remaining crew knew how to comfort her, and arguments had already flown over who should try, and how.

Ultimately, the decision rested on acting CO Ashley Williams, and Ashley couldn't choose. Knowing that her message might have been received, and that any survivors would eventually have to come to the Sol System to check on Earth and the Citadel, Williams had chosen to stay put and wait.

Now, as she continued to pace the CIC, Williams felt the urge to act. They needed to do **something**. Her original decision to stay put had seemed the most obvious, at the time. Now Ashley chaffed under the limits that choice had placed her under. _'What would Shepard do?'_ she thought to herself. The answer, she knew, was that Shepard would wait for Alliance help. Just as she had when Sovereign had attacked the citadel four years ago, just as she had when the SR-1 had been destroyed, and just as she would have now.

Ashley sighed. Waiting was never her strong suit. Ah well, practice nearly never killed anyone.

* * *

The resistance was regrouping on Earth. Resistance. What was there to resist now? Whatever Shepard had done, the Reapers were gone. Looking up at the sky, Steve Cortez sighed. He had tried to make another pass at the LZ to give her air support. It had been stupid. Shepard's last order had been to stay safe, and he had nearly stranded her with his stupid bravado.

Looking across the camp, Major Coates, Primarch Victus, and Urdnot Wrex were discussing logistics. Steve sighed. He didn't belong here. He wanted to be back on the Normandy, to know what was happening to the crew, and to see if Shepard had survived.

All communications had been fried when the particle bombardment just prior to the green wave of energy had struck the planet. It was like a solar wind, and it had torn through the atmosphere with abandon. At the moment, the leaders of the various groups stranded on Earth were discussing how to divided the scarce resources, and begin work on a communications network in order to try and contact help off-world.

It looked to be slow progress, from what Steve could see. Sighing again, he got up to go see what he could do to help speed the process along.

* * *

The scouting party was nearing the Sol Relay. Hackett himself was leading the expedition, wanting more than ever to see the Normandy intact and awaiting orders.

As the commingled fleet arrived, the destruction of the battle that had ended a week ago came into view. So much wanton destruction, so many lives lost, just to beat the Reapers in a single battle. Hackett shook his head. The Crucible had been unlike anything they had expected. Whatever it had done, the Reapers seemed to have backed off for the time being. But would it last? At the moment, the only thing the Reapers had done was to repair the Mass Relay system. What exactly had Shepard done to them? It was a question that had to be answered.

Suddenly, deep range scans picked up Reaper signatures. It appeared they were swarming the Citadel in a similar fashion to how they had each Relay. Maybe they were repairing it too? The damned thing had been at the heart of that release of energy, it would only make sense if the Citadel had sustained damages.

A secondary signature was picked up - the Normandy. It seemed to be adrift between the Citadel and the Mass Relay. Fearing the worst, Hackett ordered a hail on the frigate.

"This is Admiral Hackett, Alliance Navy, requesting permission to board."

Hackett waited, half expecting no response, half hoping Shepard's voice would come over the comm granting permission. After a few moments, Ashley Williams voice broke over the system.

"Permission granted, Admiral. Welcome aboard, sir."

Hackett and his guard proceeded across the docking tube, and came aboard the Normandy CIC. Looking around, it seemed as if the fight had been slowly dragged out of the crew of the Normandy. Not unexpected, these men and women had done more under Shepard's command in this war than any other ship in all the fleets combined. Hackett resolved that the Normandy needed a shore leave, and soon, or they'd burn out a lot of good people very soon.

"Where is Shepard?" Hackett asked, turning to ACO Williams. "I need to speak with her. The Galactic community needs her to weigh in on reconstruction, they are looking to her for advice, and we need some good will."

Ashley Williams hesitated. What was going on here? The whole crew seemed on the verge of a funeral procession. The elevator arrived at the CIC, and Liara T'Soni stepped out.

"What is going on here? I need answers, people. Where is Shepard? And why does it feel like a morgue here." Hackett began walking towards the head of the CIC Galaxy Map. "Someone answer me!"

ACO Williams spoke up. "Its.. Shepard is in the medbay, sir. She's.. I.. You'll have to see for yourself, sir."

"Very well, take me to her. Maybe she can answer my questions." Hackett said irritably.

Liara stood to the side, then joined the Admiral and Ashley in the elevator. Hackett knew that Shepard and Liara were involved; hell, half the galaxy knew. Yet, something about her seemed... odd at the moment. A sense of foreboding fell over Hackett as he arrived on the Crew Deck.

Entering the medbay was a shock. Hackett had never seen a body so bandaged by field kits before. In the corner lie the previous sessions round of bandages, dark with blood. Chakwas looked up, still in the process of re-bandaging the Commander. "Well, it is about time. We were running out of supplies to keep this up." was all she said.

Hackett looked at the Commander. The visible skin looked healthy, almost vibrant. As he looked further across the commander, though, the tale was completely different. Already, small spots of blood were appearing on the fresh bandages, and the crew that were acting as medical staff seemed not to be phased by this.

"How often do you change those?" Hackett asked the doctor.

"Every eight hours, Admiral. She was much worse when we found her. It really has been a medical miracle of sorts. Her internal organs are getting stronger every day, but the skin and bones were much more badly mangled, and are taking longer to heal. The N7 armor she had been wearing had grafted to her body; unevenly and yet fully across her body. We had to cut away a large amount of tissue just to get at the injuries to prevent infection. It is going to take a long while to get her to physical stability, but her vitals are growing daily. The only area we have seen little change in is her mental acuity. She seems at times to be nearly aware, and then slip back into a deep sleep, as if she is fighting with herself on whether she wants to wake up from a bad dream or stay down. Her rapid-eye-movement is also off the charts. You will have more details in the full report, of course, but the preliminary field findings are... unclear as to what is happening inside her."

Sighing, Hackett spoke, "Well, it is more than we could have hoped after how the crucible fired. It has been decided that Shepard will be moved to Thessia for continued medical treatment. I want her prep'd and moved to my ship ASAP." Turning to the medbay doors, Hackett continued, "From the message I'd received, I have to admit, the news sounded much more promising. This does not diminish the debt owed by the Galaxy to Commander Shepard, and no expense will be spared if it can expedite her recovery, nor will my personal influence be withheld if it can sway help to her cause."

"At this time, I want the Normandy prep'd for dry dock and it's crew set on shore leave until told otherwise. Gather whatever supplies you need here, and follow the Commander's body to Thessia. Councilor Tevos informs me that quarters will be arranged, and amenities provided, upon your arrival."

Noticing that Ashley Williams seemed to snap to at the orders, Hackett decided to add, "ACO Williams, you made the right call sending out that message and staying put. Good job." The LTC had, in fact, done exactly what she should have, and Hackett could recognize talent when he saw it. However, when he had arrived, and now that command seemed to be relieved from her, even momentarily, it was as if she was allowing herself to breath. Hackett knew a small investment in her confidence now might pay off later.

With that, Hackett marched back to his ship. _'Shepard better recover fast,'_ he thought, _'or the Galaxy will be a far different place when she wakes up.'_


	3. Ch2: Reunion

**A/N:** So, yeah. I liked this chapter a lot, to be honest. Just a heads up, some history and organization fills most of this chapter out. Got to get those arcs rolling.

Also, a large AU occurs here. The way I define a meld is a bit less meaningful than maybe was intended, but it seemed so... simple for basically an Asari to do to Shepard (E.G., Sha'ira, Shiala, Liara (regardless of romance)) so I tried to give that meaning.

* * *

Liara is walking through a park on Earth. The leaves are orange and red and yellow, just as Jessica described them. With such immeasurable beauty, Liara feels right at home. She sits on a convenient bench to look at the sky. Earth is similar to Thessia in many ways, but it's atmosphere and a small sun allow for hues of life in some of the most basic colors. The sky is a beautiful pale blue, and the grass is the most vibrant green she has ever seen. It is autumn on Earth, a season of celebration, harvest, plenty. Despite having been in space for nearly half a century, humans still swayed to their planets seasons. As Javik would put it, they are most 'primitive' in this regard. Still, humans seemed to perk up at the coming of Autumn and Spring, and Liara could tell just why, sitting in this park on Earth.

Looking for Jess up and down the cobble path, Liara begins to get anxious. What else had Jess told her; what else of Earth, of human life? As she thought more of it, Liara realized that Jess hadn't even told her this. The seasons were basic information in any pamphlet on the planet. Jess had hardly discussed her life, and what she had shared was of a life far from Earth, on ships.

THUMP. Liara nearly jumped out of her seat. Something had landed behind her, and a large something at that. Liara resisted turning to see, not as worried about the noise as she was at what was going on in her mind. Liara began to hear her name being called. "Liara. Ms. T'Soni. Darling."

Liara looked behind her, confused. Confusion gave way to horror, as Jessica Shepard's mangled body lay on the grass, the blades around her dried to husks, yellow and crackling in the wind. Liara cried out, tried to reach for Shepard's body, to pull it from the dead place in the grass, to bring her back into the beauty of life. Every time she would reach, however, Liara's hand would slip through, miss, or freeze in place. She couldn't get a hold of her beloved. Tears began streaming, when another heavy THUMP came, again from behind her.

Someone was patting Liara's back lightly and shaking her. "Ms T'Soni. Really, I must insist you wake-up."

As Liara bolted upright, Chakwas flinched, spilling the breakfast she had brought for Liara.

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Dr. Chakwas. Here, let me help you." Liara said, stumbling slightly as she got out of bed, her crest crackling slightly with biotic energy. "I was just.. It was a **very** vivid dream, and you scared me slightly." she admitted, sheepishly. She and the doctor were sharing a room, as Chakwas had wanted to keep an eye on Liara's injuries, which were healing nicely, and Liara had wanted company.

"It is quite alright, dear. And please, we are close enough, you can call me Karin." Chakwas said, smiling.

Liara looked out the window and smiled warmly as the Thessian sun rose. The two of them had accompanied Hackett to Thessia a week ago. Chakwas had been requested to give a first hand report, as well as to help on Shepard's recovery. Liara had insisted, and been allowed based on her relationship with Shepard, as well as Thessia being her home world. Shepard had been placed in Athame's Embrace Medical Facility.

Liara had taken up residence in a nearby apartment complex which had been put aside by the Asari Matriarchs for the crew of the Normandy for their shore leave. This region of Thessia had been spared a majority of the devastation that Thessia had incurred during the war. The Normandy landed two days after they had, and the dry dock buzzed with activity as the ship was repaired from battle and upkept. The crew had moved into the apartment complex as well, and settling in the first day had been fully about relaxing and self reflection; as well as planning for the rest of the indefinite shore leave. Ashley, Tali, and EDI had approached Liara in order to plan an afternoon out as the four of them.

The plan had quickly devolved into wanting to just sit and talk, to engage as friends, rather than to dissect the local shops and sights. Liara had been relieved; while the city was near the T'Soni estates, she had not lived on her families lands, nor even been in the region for the past sixty years. They had agreed to meet at a local eatery similar in style to the Apollo's Cafe on the Citadel.

Turning back to Chakwas, Liara said warmly, "Thank you, Karin. Has Miranda arrived? I know how difficult it must have been to convince the council to allow her to help." Liara, however, was in full support. While she harbored her own mistrusts, what mattered to her was that Shepard had trusted Miranda, and that Miranda had firsthand experience in exactly this sort of situation. Her leadership, understanding, and notes from the Lazarus project would prove invaluable, of that both Liara and Chakwas were in agreement.

Chakwas shook her head. "No, quite the contrary; the Alliance was in an awkward spot with Ms. Lawson, as she has been so useful during the war as a private individual, and they could not officially react to that. With the pardon the council has offered her in order to bring her on the medical team here, the Alliance is now trying to rectify her citizenship and lay claim to her for their science teams. If all goes well, Ms. Lawson will end up heading a fully legal cell of scientists in bio-synthetic processes."

Liara was surprised. It was rare that a person received a pardon so easily, and rarer still for someone who had been so antithetical at one point to be brought to such heights so quickly. "That is great news! When will she arrive?"

"Yesterday." A voice at in the hall chimed in. Liara turned to see Miranda standing in the hallway.

"Well, you can show up somewhere quietly enough." Liara said, a smile rising up. "Thank you for coming to help Shepard."

"I would have regardless, I'm just happy that the council doesn't know that. This pardon clears up quite a few issues for me without me having to do a thing. It really is convenient." Miranda laughed.

Liara's omni-tool erupted in an alarm. Looking down, she noticed that it was now 0930. "Oh my." Liara said quietly. "If you will excuse me, I need to get ready to leave. Thank you for the thought, Karin, but I will find something to eat while I'm out. Have a good day. I'll be excited to hear how Jess is doing tonight." With that, Liara headed to the bathroom to take a shower and begin her day.

"Well, she seems a bit happier than I expected," Miranda noted.

"Yes, it seems a bit of company has improved her disposition quite handily." Chakwas said happily. "Are you ready to go start? I've looked over the files you sent ahead."

* * *

Chakwas was busy developing tests to run on blood cultures. She now had the equipment to explore what she had seen when she had first worked on Shepard's injuries. When the two of them had arrived, Miranda had wanted to do an immediate diagnostic on the cybernetics that project Lazarus had embedded in Shepard's system. Chakwas, however, wanted to first check on the progress of Shepard's injuries. When they had entered the lab, the doctors there had given Chakwas glaring looks. The lead of the team, Dr. T'Nohl, had intercepted them angrily.

"What kind of report was this, Chakwas?" Dr. T'Nohl had asked, leaving the honorific Dr. off when addressing her.

"Why, what do you mean? It details Shepard's condition from the last check over on the Normandy. There was no time for a more up to date version to be made before we arrived." Chakwas said, slightly offended, as well as fully confused.

"Well, it is highly inaccurate. You suggested in the report that the epidermis was wildly scarred and, in some cases, missing. Yet, when we removed the bandages you had placed on her, no such evidence existed."

"Hrmm.. Do you mind if I see?" Chakwas asked the Asari.

Upon further investigation, Chakwas saw that the complaints were justified. Little of her status report had any relevance anymore. However, what did have relevance was the oddity reports which had documented similar, albeit slower, signs of unexplained healing. Chakwas had wanted to bring it up with Miranda, to see if the synthetics she had introduced into Shepard could have had that effect. Now it seemed she would have to in front of the entire medical team.

"Well, yes, I can see your source of anger. I agree, my status reports are indeed inaccurate now. Did you manage to look over the oddity reports?" Chakwas waited a moment, while the Asari and Salarian doctors avoided her eyes. "No? Ah, well, in them I noted that Shepard's body was somehow regenerating certain parts of itself. I had not been able to discern as to how, both due to lack of equipment, and due to not understanding the synthetic aspects of the Commander. Miranda, I must be frank, unfortunately. Did project Lazarus have an effect that could have caused this?"

Miranda took the status reports and compared them with what was plainly visible in front of her; Shepard's body looked as if she had not been touched there were slightly blue lines etching her skin where scars still shone, but on the whole, her body seemed healthy, as if no damage had ever afflicted her, past or present.

"N...No. Nothing from our rebuild of the Commander ever had this effect, or we would have completed our task much more easily. It took two years to get near this point, and even then, the visible scarring was... severe to say the least. I need to run a diagnostic on the synthetic aspects of our fixes."

Dr. T'Nohl had backed down, accepting grudgingly that there was something odd occurring with the Commander. Then, she and her team had begun to run diagnostics with Miranda. That had been three hours ago, and Chakwas had had no word from them. Wondering as to what Miranda and Dr. T'Nohl had found so far, Chakwas continued planning her culture tests.

* * *

Although she did mean to get to Tali, EDI, and Ashley, Liara needed to take care of a few loose ends. Since they had found Jessica two weeks ago, Liara realized she couldn't keep pace with Shepard's condition as well as continue to work efficiently - or at all, she thought ruefully - as the Shadow Broker. However, Liara also knew she could never truly back out of the business. So a plan had formed, and she had created two new positions in her hierarchy. The first, her Intelligence Lieutenant, she was filling with Feron. Liara knew she could trust him to make decisions on what to do with the immense data that flowed through her network competently, so it had been an obvious partial transition of power. The second, her personal Data Analyst, she had coaxed Samantha Traynor into. Based on Traynor's performance on the Normandy, Liara could think of no better person to sift through the data of the Shadow Broker's network. These two positions would work in tandem with each other, and only report issues to her that they could not come to an agreement on.

Liara had divided the contacts she had, keeping exceptionally sensitive sources for herself, as they generally were quiet, but reliable, sources for high-grade information. Then, Liara had sent the rest of her information sources to Traynor, and had set her up with analyzing their immense amounts of information with the assistance of a VI similar to Glyph, which had slightly more restrictions. Finally, Liara had placed a few leads in Feron's hands, until Traynor could supply more, and given him access to the rest of her resources not being withheld with her personal sources. Thus, the system would be tiered, and only extremely sensitive matters would fall on her. Or so she had thought.

Unfortunately, Samantha and Feron seemed almost too willing to disagree with each other. While Feron was an at all costs, rewards require risks styled person, Traynor was much more willing to stall, delay, and collect as much data on a single target as she could. Neither was perfect, as Feron would often charge on without knowing enough, while Traynor might over analyze instead of acting. Liara had hoped this would balance out to a very neutral team, but the actual result was far less cohesive and far more… well, she might as well have not changed a thing.

Liara walked down the back alley, where Feron and Samantha were waiting for her. She sighed, as the evidence of another disagreement loomed on their faces. "What is it, now, you two?" Liara demanded.

Feron swallowed. He hated to make her so angry all the time, but Traynor would not see reason. "We have new intelligence on a Turian general that could be used in our favor to gain more control among the Turian Hierarchy."

"Yes, but the information we have is incomplete, and not adequately vetted. Rushing in now could spring the trap too soon and lose us the potential gain!" Traynor seemed quite adamant.

Liara looked skyward, throwing her hands up. "Why did I even bother!" she cries out in irritation. "Feron, Traynor, I brought you two in and placed you two together to run this network efficiently. If I had wanted my fingers in everything, I wouldn't have done this. Listen. To. Me. Carefully: Feron, I know you worry that time is always slipping away, but would being more informed in this situation not help?" Liara looked at him expectantly. As he began to answer, she continued, "I do not need to know the extent of the information gathered, the fact that you described this as a new lead already tells me enough. You need to recognize that, sometimes, time is not the enemy.

"And Sam, I know you are eager to find every useful bit of information for us, but please, sometimes enough is enough. Information is always important, but once a threshold has been met, activity can be done on that information. Instead of learning everything short of what is hidden to melding in every dossier, why not organize a list of important qualities that Feron could use, so as to refine your search and allow Feron the freedom and time to react to your findings? You are supposed to be working in tandem, balancing each other out and allowing for a smooth operation. Forcing me to pick sides in every fight has only cost us time, opportunities, and made it redundant to have even attempted the process in the first place."

Feron and Traynor stared at her momentarily, then looked at each other. Feron began. "I suppose we could take another look at the data, see if there is something else we can learn?..." the drell left the question hanging.

Traynor nodded, "Yes, and I suppose we could craft a template for dossiers so I can more adequately fulfill information orders for you. Shall we grab a drink and discuss parameters?"

"Yes, I think that would work well, Traynor." the drell replied, also nodding.

"Good for you two, now only bother me with work during an emergency, keep in touch otherwise, and play **nice!**" Liara said as she turned heel and headed back into the street to attend this 'girls day out'.

* * *

Tali, EDI, and Ashley arrived at the cafe, the Maiden's Voyage, well in advance of Liara. Aethyta, surrounded by maiden's and matron's alike noted them. It was inconsequential. Ever since this blasted war had been 'won', her little girl had been doing her best to convince anything within a mass relay jump that she was ok, but Aethyta knew better. _'You don't become a Matriarch without learning at least a few things, Little Wing,'_ Aethyta thought to herself. Sighing, she started to chase off the throng of Asari that had surrounded her. Being a Matriarch meant a lot of good things - better tits, free drinks, people listened to you when you advised them (sometimes) - but the swarming younger Asari did to her on Thessia, seeking knowledge, always pissed her off.

She was never good at this crap those three were about to pull on Liara. Never good at being there for the sake of presence, to comfort and soothe. Aethyta was a closed shell after all she had experienced, and it required a lot of cracking before she would allow you in. Benezia had done it, and as a result, Liara had done it. It was an odd sensation, wanting to try to be there, but not knowing how. Aethyta watched as her grief-stricken daughter walked down the stairs towards her friends. _'I wonder if she enjoys this,'_ Aethyta wondered.

Sighing, Aethyta looked down at the bar. She knew a way to at least spark some hope for Liara, but doing so risked Liara, both in health and heart. 'Ah well, what other choice is there?' Aethyta grumbled to herself, 'It isn't like I can do this. It will have to be her...'

* * *

Liara reaches the table, and greetings are exchanged. Ashley, EDI, and Tali all inquired on Shepard's progress. "Jess is doing well" Liara said, "Her physical injuries are all moving along, but... she is still unresponsive. Miranda has joined the team, and Karin feels as though, together, they will be able to devise a solution." Liara looked down at the table, willing herself to choke down any tears. This was supposed to be a happy time.

"Oh, well that's.. that's great news, Liara!" Ashley said, "You know Shep, give her an inch and she'll take a damned system. Any progress at all is a good sign Liara, a good sign." Ashley's voice, however, betrayed a lack of belief. "And, uhm.. It is good to hear Miranda is.. you know, helpin' out!"

Tali nodded, "Yes, when my people have suit breaches, the best news is usually a stabilized or non-progressing virus. It is the best hope when the thing trying to kill you can't go any further than it has."

EDI, surprisingly, merely placed an arm around Liara's shoulders, giving her a light squeeze. "There is a decent probability of recovery Liara, based on previous cases such as this in Shepard's history. Especially where Ms. Lawson is involved."

Liara paused for a moment, wanting to delve into why EDI suddenly seemed so much more… emotional, but decided against it. _'I must be imagining it, EDI has always been a kind AI, and her voice has always mimicked emotion well. I must be placing emotional context where there is none'_ thought Liara.

Ashley had ordered drinks, as well as food. A nice selection of songs from Earth, Thessia, and the Migrant Fleet played in the background. The four of them sat around, catching up on each others lives.

"I believe Jeff is upset." EDI remarked, looking almost sadly at the table, Liara thought. "He seems conflicted, as he dislikes long times on shore leave but does not wish to fly the Normandy without Shepard, as long as there is a chance of her coming back. I cannot seem to resolve the issue for him."

Ashley huffed. "Joker is the most up and down guy I've dealt with. One moment it's all pervy jokes about how Miranda's backside compares to mine, and the next he has deep, emotional issues that I can relate to? I think his choice in partners makes a lot more sense now, I don't think a human could keep up."

EDI looked up at Ashley. "Jeff is a very sweet and caring individual, Ashley. Maybe, if you spent more time in his proximity, you would find this out yourself."

Liara looked at EDI again. There was definitely something about how EDI had just said that, something almost angry about it. But Liara was distracted again, as she was waved down by Aethyta. "If you would excuse me" Liara asked, getting up from the table.

As Liara neared the bar, Aethyta quietly sighed, "Oh, Little Wing, why can't you have normal problems? It's always 'I have to save the Galaxy dad' or 'My human squeeze is dead dad, you wouldn't get it' or 'That human eye candy? Yeah, she saved the Galaxy, but now she's mentally unresponsive.'" Aethyta laughed slightly.

Liara eyed her slightly, then let out a small laugh as well, which ended in a slight shudder as the happiness turned to sadness part way through. "Yeah, well, as the humans would say, 'Birds of a Feather...'"

Aethyta looks at her seriously now "Oh Liara… You know how.. bad I am at this coddling shit, but just know I'm here, if you ever need to talk. I do love you, very much."

Liara met her father's look, "I know… dad."

Aethyta cleared her throat then, "Well, I thought I'd offer to come see you tonight. Maybe we could, uhm, talk about her. I might have some ideas on how to help, if you, uhm, y'know, let me?" Aethyta tried to break the gaze they had created.

Liara's eyes softened. She knew how hard this was for Aethyta. Up until a few months ago, she had blamed herself for Liara's childhood being... less than ideal, blamed Benezia for the Reaper invasion, blamed herself for not reining Benezia in. "I'd.. like that dad. I'd like that a lot."

"Alright, then it's settled. Where are you staying at these days, kid?" Aethyta asked.

Liara thought about Chakwas. She doubted the doctor would appreciate being kept awake while Liara and Aethyta caught up, and Liara was slightly worried about what would be discussed. "Oh, erm, well... I'm sharing an apartment with Dr. Chakwas. It would be a bit unfair to push her out of our shared place."

Aethyta looked around. "Oh. Well... in that case, why don't you come to my place. You can stay the night... y'know, if you wanted to?"

Liara smiled. She appreciated Aethyta, but was not planning on sleeping at her fathers home. Not when Shepard was still in Athame's Embrace. She couldn't bring herself to deny Aethyta, though, and so her answer came out neutral. "We'll see, dad." Then, remembering her friends, Liara added "But I'd better be going, the others will be expecting me to come back eventually." Liara's smile grew slightly.

"Alright, Liara. I'll see you tonight." Aethyta said gruffly, as she turned to get back to work. "You be… You have a happy day, Liara."

As Liara walked away, she thought to herself _'That was unexpected.'_ Sitting down, Liara was met with laughter pealing out across the table, and Tali tried to fill Liara in on a joke that had just been told by EDI.

* * *

It was 2030 solar hours when Liara arrived at the address Aethyta had given her. The building was unexpectedly… quaint? in comparison to what Liara had anticipated of a Matriarch. Aethyta lived in an average looking home, in an average part of town. The house had two levels to it; a kitchen, gathering room, restroom, and and a private library on the main level, and three bedrooms, a restroom, and study on the second.

Liara walked in, and was immediately beset by the house VI. "Greetings, Ms. T'Soni. Matriarch Aethyta apologizes for her lateness, and asks that you make yourself comfortable. The kitchen is off to your left, and is stocked with an assortment of beverages. Further, food is being prepared currently, and will be served within the hour."

Liara nodded thankfully to the VI, and began to explore the house more. Walking down the entry hall a bit further brought Liara into a central room for gatherings. The room was furnished with a low glass table as well as a black and blue couch, and two matching black-stained wood chairs with deep, dark blue cushions. In the far wall, across the table from the couch, was an artificial fireplace.

Coming close to the fireplace caused a fire to suddenly roar to life, as the automatic system came online. Liara smiled slightly and sat down on the couch. On the table in front of her was a datapad. Picking it up, Liara saw that recent searches through this datapad pertained often to Earth and its past culture. Liara was immediately interested, and began sifting through the information eagerly. Jess had told her so little of her own home world, and Liara wondered at that. All Liara had ever talked about when discussing Asari traditions was Thessia, and Jess had listened as if drinking the words. Whenever Liara brought up Earth, however, the conversation would peter out.

Suddenly, a drone delivered her a plate of asari food. The dish was served in a bowl, and contained a grain similar to rice, with shreds of an animal native to Thessia mixed into it. The grain had been baked to the point where it barely crunched as she bit into it, and had been seasoned while simmering and baking with Eezo. On top of the grain and meat mixture was a piece of cornbread from Earth, which had substituted the variety of bread traditionally served with this dish. On the side was a blue fruit that had a similar shape to that of a pear, called a flaot.

Liara looked greedily at the food. It had been a long time since she had eaten Asari food; since Ilium in fact. The Normandy had not stocked up on Asari delicacies, and had cooked for the human dominant crew instead. As a result, Liara had learned to enjoy foods from Earth such as pancakes and certain types of chowders. As Liara bit into the flaot, dark purple juice flowed out. Liara lost herself in the taste, savoring it, the distinctive flavor of Eezo enriched flora was intoxicating. _'Aethyta must have grown her ingredients,'_ thought Liara, _'I've never had a fruit so rich with taste.'_

The night wore on as Liara finished her meal and eagerly studied the datapad.

* * *

Aethyta arrived overly late - it was 2330. She had received an update on her omni-tool that Liara had arrived at the house, but the young Asari had returned to swam her. After a full three hours, she had finally convinced the fools that she was not, in fact, looking for a following, and that she knew some very intricate ways in which to disembowel each of them. After having broken a few tables with her biotics and signing for damages, Aethyta finally started heading home.

Arriving home, Aethyta headed straight for the kitchen. She knew Liara was in the apartment still, the VI had not registered her departure. While she meant to talk to Liara, to discuss Shepard with her, Aethyta needed a drink first. The swill she had to serve at Apollo's Cafe would not cut it for what she was about to have to talk. Pouring herself a drink of ryncol, Aethyta quickly downs the glass, then carries the bottle with her as she heads into the central room to look for Liara.

Coming into the room, Aethyta was greeted by Liara's curled up body sleeping on the couch. In front of the Asari was an empty bottle of Earth wine from some region known as Italy, apparently aged over a century, as well as the remnants of the meal that had been prepared for her at Aethyta's request to the VI earlier in the day. Clutched to Liara's chest was a datapad Aethyta had been using to read up on Earth customs, traditions, cultures, and other details. Sighing, Aethyta sat down on the chair to the right of the couch, and loudly placed her bottle of ryncol down on the table.

The clang was loud, and Liara bolted upright in a daze. "Well hello there, Little Wing. " smiled Aethyta, as Liara glanced around the room groggily.

"Oh.. da.. dad.." yawned Liara, her arms stretching as far above her head as she could reach, "Where… What time is it?"

"Oh, it is still pretty early yet, only 2400. I thought we could have that talk I had offered earlier." Aethyta said, taking a deep drink of the ryncol.

"Uhm.. Right.. What exactly were we going to talk about, again?" Liara asked, slightly confused. Not that it was unexpected, Aethyta hadn't actually told her yet.

"You, girl. You and that human." Aethyta said, a certain steel entering her voice.

Liara stared at Aethyta for a long while before saying, "And what qualifies you on relationship advice, dad?"

"Experience. That is all I need, Liara. I want to know, do you really know this woman? What is she actually like? I don't mean her body, I don't mean her mind. What is her personality? What drives her? Why is Shepard what she is?" Aethyta demanded.

Liara opened her mouth to answer, then quickly shut it. She had her theory, but at that moment she realized that was all she had, a theory. But Liara knew one thing for sure, she had deep, well-set feelings for Shepard. "What is your point Aethyta? Shepard and I have hardly.. hardly had the time to share such motivations yet, what with the war and her condition now."

Aethyta shook her head, "And yet you still waste your life away sitting by this girl day in and day out? Shepard may be the glorious hero, but she has skeletons in her closet Liara, mark my words. What happens if you cannot handle those issues? It has been two weeks since the crucible fired, and you haven't even left her side. I worry for your safety, for what might happen if this doesn't set up how you imagine it. Remember that I have nearly nine hundred years on you in terms of these things, and heartbreak is hard, but heartbreak after so much investment is maddening."

Liara blinks away some tears. Aethyta's concerns made sense, but she couldn't think of leaving Shepard. "I don't care." she stammered. "I have to see this through, father. I've never felt so deeply... moved by another person... I have to... She needs to wake up, I need to hear her voice, share her memories. It is all I can think of, nothing more." Liara's emotional barrier had been breached, and suddenly a torrent of sadness washed over her. Two weeks of holding in what she felt, how distraught she was, flooded her being.

Aethyta nodded. "I was afraid of that. It sounds like the real deal, kid. I had the same damn feelings with Nezzy, way back when. I'm not done fighting this, not by a long shot, but I want to see you smile again Liara. I may have an idea for you to at least try to help Shepard. But you must understand the risks with it. Before I begin, what can you tell me of melding?"

Liara blushed. Was Aethyta trying to have 'The Talk' with her? Now? As she began to look at her dad, however, a sense of seriousness had fallen over the woman. Clearing her throat, Liara began "The commingling of thoughts, memories, and physical feelings between two individuals. The thoughts and memories are freely given, or not allowed to be touched, but the physical entanglement is required, as the nervous systems become one for the act."

Aethyta nodded "Yes, that is current melding. And what are the risks to what you have done, Liara?"

Liara's eyes opened widely. She had told no one of her attempts to meld with Jess's mind. "I… How did you know?"

"It is as plain as the blue on your face. Now what were the risks." Aethyta demanded.

Liara wanted to run away. This was basic, all Asari knew to not do what she had done. Stammering, Liara led on, "Attempting to meld with the unconscious is both socially unacceptable and potentially harmful to those involved."

"Correct, but how so Liara?" Aethyta pressed on.

"Socially, it is a breach of the ultimate privacy, for if one were to succeed at taking advantage of the broken mental state of another, the memories and thoughts would come unhindered, regardless of the holders feelings." Liara said, looking anywhere except Aethyta's eyes.

"And the danger, Little Wing?" Aethyta asked, almost softly.

"In terms of danger, the one instigating the melding could become overwhelmed at the process, as all sense of organization in the mind is broken, and memories will come from multiple times all at once. Further, when placing the memory back in the stream, due to the rambling activity of the unconscious mind, if the memory is misplaced the character of the individual could be severely altered." Liara stopped, seeming to want to be done with the conversation entirely.

"Hmmm, so you do have a little sense. At least, you do according to the Matriarchs." Aethyta remarked. "What can you tell me of the history of the meld? Of how what we now consider melding came to be?"

Liara opened her mouth, then faltered. "I.. I do not know," Liara admitted ruefully.

Aethyta laughed, "Do not worry, if you did I would be more concerned. It is information that most do not learn at all in their lifetimes. However, first I must ask one more thing, Liara. What did you experience in the meld attempt?"

Liara shuddered. The attempt had gone poorly. "I remember… reaching with my mind, and feeling Shepard's almost pull me in, as if begging desperately for embrace. My mind was enveloped by hers, and then I heard it. I heard a mental wail, as if a thousand anguishes had been placed on her. No other thoughts, no memories. It was not the chaos described in an unconscious mind, but such a strict order as to be almost purposeful. It took all my strength just to end the entanglement."

Aethyta nodded gravely. "Yes, that seems about right. Despite being such a separate species, the humans treat true commitment in a similar fashion as the ancient Asari once did. This is not to say all human commitment is true, but that when it is, it is very much alike to our old ways."

Taking a deep drink of the ryncol, Aethyta settled into her chair a bit more. "You see, in both cultures, the deepest commitment one can make is to trust the other implicitly, to the point where they share every action, every decision in their lives. What happened on the crucible must have shaken Shepard's core, and not just her core, but what she believed would fall within the core of your acceptance. It is a devastating thing, to have the power to make a choice that powerful."

Liara looked at Aethyta incredulously. "Jess.. Jess would always make the decision based on the merit of the choices. I very much doubt I could sway her that deeply, or that I could not accept her choices."

"Liara, do not sell yourself short." Aethyta said quietly. "I hear tell you made the bond, not but a few hours from the final charge. A bond that fresh… It can mean many things to many people, but I can guess as to what Shepard thought." Shifting to look Liara in the eyes as directly as she could, Aethyta continued. "Her visits with me, both on Ilium and the Citadel, showed a woman dedicated to cause, but with one major flaw on the Citadel. Every time she spoke of the galactic issues with me, her face would turn to you, and her voice would crack, ever so slightly. Shepard was committed to you the day you took her back, despite her time with Cerberus. As if your ability to forgive that meant you would accept her implicitly, and that she should do the same for you. Combine that devotion to a bond so fresh and it is easy to see a shift in personal motivations at a key moment."

Liara looked at her father, a sense of foreboding washing over her. "I can not… I did not… Oh, what have I done?" Tears spilled over at the hearing of both dedication and potential danger Shepard had assumed for her.

Aethyta looked around for a moment, then placed her ryncol on the table. "Hey.. Hey.. Little Wing. It will be.. it will be alright…" Aethyta said, awkwardly trying to hug the crying girl. Liara reached up and fluidly hugged her father, choking sobs wracking her body.

A few minutes passed, and Aethyta finally broke the embrace slowly. "Alright, enough for tonight Little Wing. Get a good nights rest, and we can talk more when you wake up."

Liara sighed heavily. She had truly meant for this to be a quick conversation, and to be back at the hospital, to be with Jessica. Aethyta had made that impossible; not just due to it being nearly 0200, but also out of intrigue as to what Aethyta had to say. "Alright, you win father. I'll stay here, but just for tonight." Liara made the limit, knowing she had no way of guaranteeing it.


	4. Ch3: An Ancient Act

**A/N:** So, part 2 of the TALK. Dun dun dunnnnn. Hopefully a bit of levity in this one to brighten the mood, without taking away from the story too much.

Another AU piece here. Where as current melding is blah, we discover something _deep_er in the past.

* * *

Liara awoke in one of Aethyta's spare rooms. The night had seemed to fly by so quickly, and her sleep had been more restful than any previous night for the past couple weeks. It was nearly noon, and Liara could hear Aethyta in the kitchen cursing and casting about. Liara didn't care. As long as she was going to have been duped into using her father's house, she was also going to use it's facilities.

The apartment had showers, of course, but Liara never had a moment to herself, a moment alone. A time to just relax and unwind... that was what she needed. As Liara entered the restroom, she saw a beautiful assortment of Asari lotions and body washes. Despite playing up her Krogan parentage so much, Aethyta seemed to have quite the... Asari assortment, as it were. The most glorious part unfolded as she walked further in: A full tub for bathing, accompanied with a partitioning wall if showers were needed instead. _'Excellent,'_ Liara thought to herself and, as she dove into her preparations, an unintentional squeal of anticipation escaping her.

* * *

Aethyta heard Liara's room open. "About damn time," Aethyta whispered to herself. Then she realized it was nearly noon, and she still hadn't decided on what to make as far as food. A string of curses escaped her, unfortunately louder than intended. _'Ah well, shes a big girl, a bit of cursing won't hurt her,'_ Aethyta thought.

This didn't solve the food issue. Last night, food seemed simple. The girl was Asari, so Aethyta had made a simple Asari dish with human replacements due to the large spike in human goods nearby. That it had unwittingly played into Liara's current infatuation... well, that had been a bonus. But Aethyta had seen the mistake as a way to at least seemingly try and be involved in Liara's life. Which had led to this conundrum. What food could Aethyta make that would be both Earth-styled and which Liara would enjoy.

Aethyta heard the water in the bath turn on. "Thank the Goddess that girl hasn't been relaxed for so long, that will take a good while at least," Aethyta muttered. "Where is that damnable drone when I need it," she said louder than was probably necessary.

The house VI sprang to life, "May I be of assistance, Ma'am?" it buzzed.

"Yes, dammit. Give me a list of human foods, preferably foods that I have ingredients for or that are close by. Oh, and that are meant for morning eating." She had added the last part, unsure if human culinary preferences shifted based on the time of day. Asari foods were interchangeable, but Aethyta knew that humans were especially over-taxed with their star's rotation, keeping track of it even in separate star systems. It only made sense that they divided the food over times of day.

The drone generated the list quickly. Aethyta looked over the foods, noting that most all morning foods were either simple grains soaked in milk, different combinations of chicken eggs, or specific varieties of bread cooked in odd shapes. From that list, Aethyta chose to attempt at cooking pancakes, the pancakes in the images looking similar to a type of Asari bread used to base under a thick soup.

Within thirty minutes, a delivery of ingredients had arrived, and Aethyta began the attempt. However, after a few moments, multiple eggs had been smashed beyond recognition, their contents unusable and mixed with the exterior. A string of expletives stormed out, as Aethyta groaned in frustration "What have I gotten myself into?" and another set of cursing crashed forth.

* * *

Liara had not been able to bathe this long in an unbearable amount of time. She had finally finished washing herself and ending her sojourn in the bath, a seventy-five minute soak of pure bliss. Now, dressed in a deep blue robe with white etching lines criss crossing the outer portions, Liara headed to the kitchen, led on by multiple sets of cursing from her father.

A smile burst from Liara's face as she saw the mess, both past and present, unfold. Earth eggs were broken and smashed across the counter, only a few making it into a bowl, and flour from an Earth grain stained both Aethyta's robe, and clung to any of the egg it could land on. Aethyta was cursing yet again at a newly broken egg when Liara walked in.

"Having trouble, father?" Liara asked, failing miserably at stifling a giggle.

"Oh, great, as if this wasn't already terrible," her father replied, "Now I to be mocked by a young maiden, fresh from her traipses across space, far more familiar with the insanity of humans than I." Aethyta's face was stuck in a scowl as she turned to look at Liara.

Any hope at not laughing aloud died, as Liara saw egg on her father's face and flour stuck to Aethyta's crest and robe. Choking between laughs, Liara managed to stumble out a few words, "My - heh - haven't we been - hehe - busy today?" before having to take a seat at the small bar and finishing the bout.

Aethyta's scorn cracked, and she too smiled, a bit, a small laugh escaping. "Yeah, well, I decided I'd try and make you some Earth food to, y'know, not seem so intolerant. It isn't humans I dislike, it's just… Shepard is dangerous, Little Wing. I know you love her, and I want to help, but, if this all turns out well, I'm still going to give her hell for trying to take you away."

Liara smiled. "I'd like to see you try. So many other people have, and they've all failed."

Aethyta laughed, "Well they didn't have good reasons, did they?"

"And you do?"

"I do. Now, are you going to just laugh at me, or are you going to help me out?" Aethyta flung her arms into the air.

"Yes yes, alright. What are you trying to make?" Liara said, the hilarity having run its course.

"Pancakes." Aethyta smiled at even being able to name the damned dishes.

Liara smiled back and began to demonstrate how to crack an egg, as they cooked the food together.

* * *

The mess cleaned up, and the food prepared, Liara and Aethyta sat down in the kitchen to eat and continue the previous nights discussion. Taking a bite of her pancakes, drizzled in something Liara had called maple syrup, Aethyta groaned. "This is what they eat? Any day? Not just a special occasion?"

Liara giggled slightly, "Well, maybe not all the time. They are usually too busy to bother cooking them. Usually they just eat grains and milk, if anything. But on days they feel especially free on time, they tend to cook pancakes, among other things."

"Well, that certainly helps explain why you are so fervent on a human, what with their cooking, their shape, and that hair. Oh, don't give me that look, it seems irresistible. If I were a little younger, I'd be exploring where else that stuff pops up. Might even need a decent... sample size, to verify. Although, I suppose I can just ask you?" Aethyta asked, an eyebrow cocked up.

Blushing, Liara shook her head vigorously, "Father! Why do you have to be so.. crass."

"You big prude." Aethyta sighed. "I'll just find out eventually, why don't you tell me now."

"This is not why I came over, dad." Liara huffed, the blush deepening from a slight darkness to a deep purple.

"Fine, fine. Alright, before I explain anything, I need to give you a history lesson. Nezzy would have likely explained this eventually, probably when you turned 350... ish, but the war and your… interest… demand a bit more speed, I suppose."

"Before the Asari found the Citadel, hell even before we found the Mass Relays, we had only each other to reproduce with. Hearing this on face value would suggest a large population of Ardat-Yakshi, but that wasn't the case. Back then, our race was a lot more thoughtful, of each other and the old religions; which makes more sense with your friend, Javik's, insights into Athame and her 'origins'. Athame was mother to many clans, but each collective had a God/Goddess, or collection of them, similar to her. Athame demanded that those who became bondmates do so through a meld of extremely intimate proportions. The couple looking to bond would have to open themselves fully, to the point that no corner was left unchecked by their mate, and allow for an evaluation of their life by their mate. In turn, they would also evaluate their mate's choices and life, and pass judgement."

"Thus, the commitment to bond was not so prevalent as it is in todays Asari. The process could permanently scar both individuals if done too hastily, and would reveal to them both the great travesties of their own lives. Often, couples seeking to bond would spend centuries together, learning each other as best they could beforehand and melding on a less intimate level, in a similar way to todays standard bonding, in order to grow accustomed to each other and soften any blow should they fall apart from each other during the procedure."

"The final bonding ceremony would see each Asari live through key points of the others life, as if they were their own, and attempt to accept decisions made by their bondmate in them. If this could be accomplished, then the bonding would be consummated over the course of a week, and the couple would exit in such a commingled aspect as to be nearly a single individual. The meld would eventually wear off and their lives would function similarly to any other Asari, with the new addition that one person truly accepted them for every decision and failure they had had in their entire life."

"Why would this have stopped Ardat-Yakshi?" Liara questioned, "And how could a bond of that magnitude been achieved often enough? It feels.. overwhelming to even contemplate."

Aethyta smiled. The archaeologist in her daughter was springing to life, studying and analyzing everything. "Well, a bond of this magnitude was based in mass empathy, a trait that Asari still treasure above all else. The ability to feel anothers pain, experience their emotions. That is key to the meld, and what lacks in an Ardat-Yakshi. Upon conceiving a child, the bondmates would enter a similarly deep meld once the child was strong enough to accept it, and include the child in the meld as well. In this commingling, the empathy of the bondmates would overpower the simple mind of the child, creating in the child an understanding and base desire for the feeling. Repeated melds would continue through the pregnancy until the mother felt the child ready enough to be birthed, at which point labor would be self induced. The only timer that held back immediate births was nature, which demanded a sixteen month gestation."

"So, were the Ardat-Yakshi non-existent then?" Liara asked, confused.

"No, of course not. Fringe groups always crop up, and those Asari that did not want or could not achieve the level of empathy required, often as a result of weak melds with their parents when they were conceived, would use low-level bonds to conceive. These bonds often ended up with the spawn of Ardat-Yakshi, who were given the same choice then as now, live and be ostracized, or die for their defect."

Aethyta took another bite, and continued. "Well, as I noted, Javik's insights put a new spin on this. It almost makes a certain amount of sense, as the Protheans had apparently cultivated our race to be as it is now. After detecting the Ardat-Yakshi birth defects, they probably introduced the 'deep-meld' in order to deal with the lack of empathy imprinting on our children."

"However, as we explored space and the Citadel, the Asari soon learned that they could meld with any species, and still produce Asari children. What was more, the interspecies children had no risk of the Ardat-Yakshi defect and thus lighter bonds could be used. This was popular for multiple reasons, first among them being the side effect of a bondmate dying while bonded with the deep-meld. Often, bonds that ended in one death were followed shortly after by the second, as the loss of someone so close to you can be… painful. As a result, the Matriarchs attempted to push social opinion of pure Asari relationships down, and soon terms such as purist and pureblood were used."

"Over the centuries, all but the oldest families halted the practice of the deep-meld. Many forgot how to initiate it, more purposefully stamped out the practice. However, they could never stop Asari-Asari pairings, and without the deep-meld, the Ardat-Yakshi swelled in number. What had once been a minor, fringe issue, became a full twenty percent of the Asari population. The Justicars could not recruit fast enough, and soon the Ardat-Yakshi overwhelmed their numbers. A mass purge was done by the entire Asari population, and strict rules were placed on Asari-Asari couplings. Any now wishing to try would have to submit themselves before the Matriarchs, who will choose whether or not to reveal the secrets of the deep-meld."

"The last case allowed was Benezia and mine. We appeared before the Matriarchs, not to learn the rite, but to seek allowance to perform it. Much like you, Little Wing, I had experienced something in Nezzy that I had never felt before. A climbing surge, as if I was caught up in a heavy storm, and she was my release from it. The Matriarchs allowed it, and Nezzy and I began the rites. We delved into each others pasts, explored them thoroughly, and came out so close. I never thought anything could separate us…"

Tears had formed in Aethyta's eyes as she recalled the joining. Liara came around the table, holding her father's shoulders tightly. Aethyta continued, "In the first week, we had bliss. It was as if I could merely shift a finger, and the meaning translated perfectly to Benezia. We were so close, like being a singular entity in two bodies."

"A century passed, and we had everything we'd ever wanted. Benezia and I were both forward Asari, attempting to help our species consolidate the hold over the galaxy we had. And then you were conceived, Liara, and we began the deep-melds to imprint you. Everything was as it should be. Then, ten months into the pregnancy, during a deep-melding session, our thoughts of the future conflicted."

Aethyta's eyes were swollen now, and her normally stonewalled exterior was mush. Shivering at the thought of the bond breaking, Aethyta trudged forward. "Nezzy wanted a commingling of races, so that the Asari would have pull among all the peoples of the Galaxy, in order to influence them and avoid dealing with major issues ourselves. I agreed that we needed consolidation, but not with other species. I wanted to put the Asari on the map as a truly solitary power, that just so happened to allow peace with other species."

"At once, the meld session ended, and Benezia looked at me, the hurt in her eyes mirrored in mine. We had shared so much, every part of us opened up. But time had changed us, and we had not kept pace. The matriarchs had warned us that deep-melds needed to recur every half to three-fourths of a century, or the possibility of a drift was high. We had not listened, these were the first rounds we had had in 150 years. I pleaded with Nezzy, promised we could work around it, pleaded that we had to stay together, at least until you were born. I was ignored, left, stripped of her, stripped of you. The pain of losing a bond like that, kid, is immense. When the matriarchs said that it often resolved in suicides, I had scoffed. Now, I felt hollow, as if life wasn't worth the next days knowledge."

Aethyta took a few moments, her eyes empty, tears no longer flowing. Her voice had a hollow tone to it, as the glassy eyed look fell further forward. Liara had sat back in a chair beside her father, the pain from the explanation alone driving her to silent tears.

"I stayed up to date on your birth, kid. That first month was brutal. I would come to her door, ask to help, beg for a chance to feel you again. Then she returned to her ancestral estate, and I couldn't get in. I waited for the news, her daughter wouldn't be ignored by the media. When you were born, it was said you were not Ardat-Yakshi. It was the first time in half a year I had let myself breathe freely. That was my worst fear, that I had helped screw your life over so badly. After that, it got harder and harder to keep up. So, I drifted, went off to relive my maiden years. When you started stomping across the galaxy, I offered to keep tabs on you, so the Matriarchs would leave you be, and so I could be near you."

Liara looked on the Matriarch in a new light. This knowledge was profound, shifting her entire view of Aethyta from that of neglectful father, to one of scorned lover and grieving parent. While it would certainly take, at the very least, a few decades to resolve, Liara could see the possibility of fixing the relationship grow.

"That.. I'm so sorry for what you've had to go through," Liara said quietly. "I had absolutely no idea. Had I known… oh, I don't know what I'd have done."

"Thank you, Little Wing. I.. I just need a bit to.. think things over again.. Lets finish this talk tonight. In the mean time, go see Shepard, and bring back good news." Aethyta sighed, not waiting for Liara's response as she trudged to her room, the door locking as she entered.

* * *

Chakwas had developed a culture test she was willing to try, and so she began heading down to where Miranda and the Asari team were running the diagnostics. Humming softly to herself, Chakwas buzzed slightly with anticipation for the news she hoped the others had for her. It had been seven hours since they had begun, and it seemed off that no news had been sent to her.

Chakwas had seen Dr. T'Nohl's team leave an hour ago. It seemed odd, however, that Miranda had not been with them, or brought her news. Chakwas began down the hallway to the lab, both to draw some blood from Shepard for her test, and to see what had happened with Miranda.

"What did you find over here?" Chakwas asked, closing the distance to Miranda.

Miranda slowly spun around. She held a datapad up to Chakwas, and then said, in a shaken voice, "They aren't there. They just... They aren't even there anymore. Not a trace. I.. How?"

Chakwas, confused now, began to sift through the datapad. "Alright, so you began by attempting signals.. Expecting that to fail.. that seems correct.. and then.. Wait.. What? These scans can not be accurate. Those cybernetics were fully there, we had to work around them. What.. what is going on? Miranda?" Chakwas had shifted from a comfortable reading stance to gripping the counter, as the report suggested that all synthetic aspects of Shepard were unaccounted for. As if they had been taken out of her.

"And yet, Chakwas... That is exactly the case. The medical team left, unwilling to believe what was clearly in front of them. Dr. T'Nohl was specifically disappointed that your report, again, fell short. I, however, am not so sure it is your report." Miranda sighed, and picked herself up.

"Well... I have brought a culture test I want to run, maybe it will have some answers?" Chakwas said, grabbing some equipment quietly.

Miranda only nodded, and they set up the equipment. They drew a vial of blood, and placed it within the focusing equipment.

Chakwas brought up the cellular level of a blood sample, and put the image on a screen for both of them to see. Then, she put electric currents through the blood to mimic the body's constant signals. The scanner attached to the device began recording, and a small graph appeared to the bottom right hand corner of the image.

Suddenly, a small, blueish-green object darted through the image. Attaching itself to the nearest cell, it injected a small, needle-like appendage in, and then the cell shifted. Suddenly, the blood became active, and started 'flowing', if it even could in its current state.

"Miranda... What was that? I... You didn't...? That wasn't in the reports..." Chakwas asked, slightly accusingly, and fully confused.

Miranda, still staring at the image as more of the particles flooded into the image and did a similar action, only shook her head. "No... We... debated it, but the technology was too undeveloped, too unrefined. We couldn't control them, they weren't even plausible. No species has reached this point yet. They shouldn't even exist."

"Well, they obviously do... and it looks like..." Chakwas began, as the particles attacked an unresponsive cell that seemed to refuse to react to their prodding, "Well, it seems that they clean out useless cells. That would certainly... wait... No. That can't be right." The cells had retreated from the cell, which had been transformed from an unresponsive blood vessel to a block of skin.

"They... re-purposed it... that has only been theorized as a possibility. No one has succeeded in re purposing cells dedicated to a task already. This is... remarkable. But who did it? How?" Miranda said, all calm having long since exited her body.

"I have no answers, Ms. Lawson. I'm not certain that anyone besides the Commander could truly answer this... mystery." Chakwas said, as the particles finished building a closed system that began going dormant again as soon as the electrical signal was taken out.

"So what, we just wait for her to wake up and explain where these things... these _**Nanites **_came from?" Miranda asked, unconvinced.

"I see no other way of learning their origin, do you?" Chakwas said, her feelings as mired as Miranda's on the issue.

* * *

Liara arrived at Athame's an hour later. It was now 1800, and she had not seen Jessica once today. _'It has to be some kind of record,'_ she thought to herself. A small giggle was brought forth by this, and she rushed the rest of the way to the room Jess was in. Inside, Garrus and Tali were visiting. The two of them had grown close near the end of their mission, and the complications in Jess's recovery had only continued to drive them into familiar arms. The reconstruction was hard on Palaven, and as Liara understood it, their relationship was straining due to distance, more than personal feelings. Garrus felt obligated back on Palaven, but Tali, as expected, wanted to be on Rannoch, to help her people rebuild as well.

Walking in, both of them jumped. Liara was always good at remaining unobtrusive, except with Jess. Jess always knew when Liara was sneaking up on her. It was uncanny.

"Hey there, T'Soni! I hear you've been breaking habits today. A whole day and some change without Shepard. It sounds like you've spooked the entire facility, what with the chatter." Garrus said with a big smile; well as Turians can, at any rate.

"Yes, we were worried we'd have to start search parties. It is good to see you again, Liara!" Tali said happily.

Liara hugged both of them quickly, replying "This is unexpected, what are you doing here?"

"Well... what with the shore leave and all... we were, y'know, in the area, and, well... Tali and I felt that we should check in on Shepard… and you." Garrus said, adding the last part slightly off-hand.

"Yes, how are you Liara? We see Shepard is making a full physical recovery, and Chakwas seems positive that her mental faculties will improve over time." Tali added.

Liara looked at Jess, smiling. "Well, after our little get together yesterday with EDI and Ashley, I went to stay with my father for the night. We're.. working on things, at the moment." Liara looked around awkwardly.

"Oh, well, uhm, good. Thats good." Garrus said, not sure how to respond.

"What are you two doing here, though? I thought you would be chomping to get on reconstruction duty on Palaven, Garrus? Or Rannoch, Tali?"

"Like I said T'Soni, we felt we should look you guys up, see what is, uhm, new." Garrus said, stammering slightly.

"Yes, what is new, and to make sure you two are doing well." Tali added, jabbing Garrus slightly.

Something seemed off to Liara. "Alright.. When did you get here? I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

"Oh it was no big deal. We got here a little while ago." Tali said quickly.

"If you call four hours ago a little while.." Garrus muttered, just slightly too loud.

Liara crossed her arms, looking at them both. "Alright, what is really going on here, you two?" she demanded.

Garrus sighed, "She knows, or at least suspects Tali. We might as well tell her."

"Keelah, this is your fault Garrus. Fine, so the we and the others may have gotten together, and may-have-decided-to-start-sending people to, y'know, check-up-on-you, Liara. Its just, you seemed to take Shepard's-recovery-pretty-poorly, and what with the sleepless-nights-and-hospital-living-and-all, we felt you might need some help to, y'know, watch Shepard. Just a friendly-face-to-be-with-you-from-time-to-time." Tali explained as quickly as she could, tripping over words at points.

Liara sighed. She could see that is was poorly placed affection, but it was annoying nonetheless. "Look, I'm fine, and I'll start watching myself better, ok? I would feel more at peace if the rest of you were relaxing and enjoying this forced vacation. I welcome visits, but make them for Shepard, or to catch up, not to check in on me like some child."

Garrus and Tali looked hesitantly at each other. "Alright Liara," they said together, "If you insist. But if you need anything, at all, don't hesitate."

Liara smiled, and walked over to the bedside as Garrus and Tali left.

Hearing the door slide open again, Liara sighed. No private time today, it seemed.

"Well, there you are, dear. We were a bit worried last night, and then again this morning. It was an outright scandal not having you around." Dr. Chakwas said merrily.

"Oh, hello Karin. I was just visiting. My father has offered me a place to stay, and, well, we have started patching things up a bit, so…" Liara said, trying to explain her absence.

"You needn't explain yourself to me, I'm just happy to see you finally seem.. mobile."

"So," Liara led in, putting on a more... chipper face, "How goes it? Any progress? Any way I can help?"

Chakwas hesitated. "Well, we know more about her condition, but we need to... confirm some things first. As for helping... Yes, I think you could. We could use a tissue sample, if you do not mind. After that, I'm sure you'll want to be with Shepard alone for a while."

Liara perked up at being able to help, but was a bit irritated at the sudden restrictiveness in Chakwas's person. "Why can't I know? I want to be up-to-date on her condition, Karin. I want to know!"

Chakwas had a pained expression on her face, but the insistence remained. "I.. can't Liara. You know me well enough, you know I'd tell you if I could. This is just... too sensitive to spread about without further verification, further... study. Please, just know that your help in the tissue sample will further our understandings."

Liara sighed, still discontented. Grudgingly, Liara responded. "Fine, Dr. Chakwas. I will give you your sample. I'm happy I could.. further your studies on my.. bondmate." Liara's voice practically spat venom, and her reversal from the use of Chakwas's first name added salt to the wound.

Stone-faced, Chakwas took the sample off Liara's elbow as gently as she could, and placed a dose of medigel, as well as a bandage, over the wound. Leaving the room, Chakwas turned the first corner and slumped against the wall. Tears streamed her face, as the blow Liara had aimed took its full course. Miranda had convinced her to not tell Liara of the development, to attempt to discern more before they brazenly spread this information. The cost though... her friendship with Liara had been an anchor, a link to Shepard and to the Normandy. Chakwas hoped it would be worthwhile.

* * *

It was 2200 when Liara finally returned to Aethyta's apartment. Her father was sitting on the couch in the central room, holding a picture of Liara and Benezia, presumably obtained in an irregular fashion. A gentle sigh emerged from Aethyta as Liara slumped into the room, her own sorrow evident.

"That bad, huh kid?" Aethyta said, recognizing the signs of emotional stress on Liara's face.

"The doctor seems to have made a discovery, but they will not inform me as to what it is," the tears from her return still clung to her face. "They took a tissue sample from me, apparently to help themselves learn more about it... but still, I am excluded."

"Well, that's just medicine, always fussing about tests. As I've told you, I may have a way to help. But first, I had to make you understand the pain it can cause if mismanaged, or should it not play out how you want it to. Try we shall, however." Aethyta said, a determined spark in her eye.

"What do you mean? Are you suggesting… But how? All previous cases were Asari-Asari pairings, you never suggested an attempt in a mixed species coupling." Liara stammered, catching up to Aethyta finally.

"Well, there is always a first." Aethyta winked at Liara. "Besides, you've bonded with her before, and in her own way, Shepard is open to it. However, the deep-meld is normally done with both members simultaneously experiencing one another. With Shepard how she is… Well, the feeling can be less than pleasant if the other involved is not reciprocating." Liara nodded, accepting what she thought would be her own anguish. "The one thing we have going for us is that Shepard's mind is otherwise occupied, so she may not feel a thing." Aethyta finished.

Liara gasped. To deal with pain on herself was one thing, but the possibility of pain on Shepard sounded unbearable. "She's already suffered so much.. Can we do nothing else?" Liara pleaded, knowing the answer.

"No, dammit, and you know it. Now then, we have to make some minor preparations, mostly dealing with preparing you to receive the memories and look at them. I've prepared a special dish with an abundance of EEZO, and then you must rest. Tomorrow, we will go to Shepard's hospital room, and begin the deep-meld. If all goes well, only a few hours will have passed by when we are done, and Shepard will have regained consciousness, needing only to begin the recovery. Be aware, Liara, that once complete on your end, it is demanded you offer yourself to her in the same way, so that there will be balance in the relationship, and understanding between you two. To refuse is the worst thing you can possibly do, especially to someone who had no way of refusing."

Liara looked away, fear in her heart. Fear of harming Jess, fear of what would be found, and fear of opening herself so fully to somebody. Aethyta grabbed her shoulder gently and led her to the table, as they began to prepare.


	5. Ch4: Memories - Innocence

**A/N: **Sorry for the two week delay. Work kicked up quite the storm, and Finals laced their unfortunate fingers in as well.

That aside, this section was much entertaining, for me at least, to write. It delves into Jessica's past, on points I felt were key to her development as a character, or help move the story. I tried to ignore the length and let the chapter flow appropriately. As a result, this did end up being about two to three times longer than most of my other portions so far.

* * *

It was late - or maybe, early? - when Chakwas and Miranda had headed home. Dr. T'Nohl had informed them that there would be a day hiatus while the results were examined from the culture tests that had been run the day before. In response to this, Miranda had convinced Chakwas of two things; they needed a tissue sample of every race they could get their hands on, and Liara was to be kept in the dark until her hypothesis had been tested first.

Miranda's hypothesis was simple; the Crucible's energy was the only factor unaccounted for in Shepard, and thus the only source these nanites could have stemmed from. How was a question for a different day, what mattered now was what effect the energy had had on the rest of the galaxy. The Reapers had apparently gone from mindless, organic harvesting robots to some sort of... repair squad? It was unclear what the Reaper's wanted now, only that they had not attacked anything in the past two weeks.

If the energy of the crucible could do that to the Reapers, then why not associate it with the nanites that now plagued Shepard, nanites so advanced that no species could even comprehend them currently.

So the tests had been started. Miranda and Chakwas gave samples for humanity, Chakwas had taken one from Liara to index the Asari, and a small amount of... work by Miranda had secured tissue samples from Krogan and Salarian forces also currently on leave. While not an extensive list of the Galaxies species, there was enough diversity to see if similar effects to Shepard's had set in on multiple fronts, so to speak.

Now Chakwas was in her apartment, unclear if she was in total agreement at having kept Liara in the dark. As she thought about this, Chakwas took another draft of the Elasa that she had found in her apartment. The look of betrayal on Liara's face still burned in Chakwas's mind. She could not shake the Asari's disapproval and hurt, and it was driving Chakwas mad.

Since the day Liara had joined the Normandy, Chakwas had been fielding questions for her. Questions on Shepard's past, human biology, human desires, human wants and needs. Liara had come to her with problems, confused emotions, and other such issues. Chakwas had watched her grow from a shy, smart, and loving Asari with a crush, into a strong and independent woman who knew what lines she would, and could, cross for what she wanted. To see such... disappointment from those eyes now stung deeply.

As the lab was closed for the day, Chakwas and Miranda could only let their tests cycle, and anticipate the next days results. What they would be was uncertain, but Chakwas returned to her earlier doubts. They had better be worthwhile.

* * *

Aethyta had prepared anther EEZO rich meal for Liara this morning. There was Thessian milk, another flaot, and a bowl of tredan, which most closely resembled a plate of ziti noodles mixed with shredded steak and various vegetables. The tredan glimmered with in-grown EEZO, as bright glitters of black and silver came through the grain.

Now, as they neared the hospital, Liara felt the first tell-tale signs of doubt creep into her. What would happen if she was unwilling to accept Jessica so completely? Or worse... If Jess was unwilling to accept her in the reciprocation. Liara had studied for as long as she could on Jessica's early years, from her birth, which was April 11th, 2654 by Galactic years, to when her father had died while she was three in the First Contact Wars, as Humans called it. Liara had not had enough time to get beyond that; suffice it to say, going in she knew that Jessica Shepard had lived, not on Earth, but on spaceships her entire life, and that her father had been killed in action by turians during the war.

Her father and mother had served on the SSV El Alamein at that point; Hannah Shepard was a marine while Frederick Shepard was an engineer. Frederick had been placed on Shanxi to hold a narrow pass for as long as possible while human colonists and marines evacuated. Hannah Shepard had fought hard to eventually be positioned nearby him, and together they helped to hold the pass well beyond what had been predicted by Turian forces. Unfortunately, all human units were ordered back to a pre-determined LZ after the main EVAC had taken place. Soon after, Hannah and Frederick had been separated, and only Hannah had made it to the loading zone. Pronounced MIA, and then later KIA after the exchange of prisoners that took place near the end of the war, Jessica hardly had any real time with her father, it seemed.

They were nearing the room now, and Liara was more nervous than she had ever been. Aethyta's strong grip on her shoulder seemed both reassuring and binding at the same time, as they finally entered Shepard's room.

"Liara. You know what you are about to do, but the sensation is... different. A light meld features a sharing, a give and take on a much more shallow level. This will be more demanding. When a memory presents itself, it will pull at you, as if demanding your presence. Much of the memories will be blurred, but certain events in Shepard's life will stand out like beacons, having a deeper effect on her character. The first deep-meld will highlight these above all else, giving you an idea of the person. Further deep-melds can take longer and longer, making other, less defining memories similarly to the defining ones." Aethyta explained, the bruff grain in her voice getting worse as she finished.

Liara swallowed slightly, that doubt rearing its head once more. Nodding, she turned to face the bed.

Liara walked to the side of Jessica's bed. Her heart pounded with each step. Biotic energy crackled around her crest, as her body was slowly enveloped in a translucent blue bubble. The excess EEZO in her diet was making the process of accessing her biotics much more.. rudimentary. Whereas normally it took strong emotional stirrings to break her control, now a minor twitch could set her out of control. The EEZO would burn off eventually, but at the moment she could feel her mind grasping at anything, everything, possessively.

Her eyes began to turn into inky pools of black, starting from the outside edges and working inward, until only the blue of her irises remained. Slowly, they also fell away to the blackness, until her eyes were even pools. Feeling fully open, she funneled herself directly at Jess, her intent simple: to gain entry to Jess's memories and begin to experience them, in order to find the source of her mental anguish and put it to rest.

Slowly, Liara seemed to open her eyes. Looking down at her hands... They were so pretty, so creamy white, and slightly freckled. She lifted her head high, and raced her fingers through her hair, which was shoulder length...

* * *

**2662 - Elysium**

"Where are we going momma?" Jess asked, her bags hanging off her shoulders as she struggled to keep up with her mother. Hannah Shepard looked down at her and smiled.

"Oh, why, to a wonderful place. We've been asked to help keep the people here on this world safe, and it will give us an opportunity to stay in one place for a while." Hannah said, a smile appearing on her face.

They quickly went through customs, and loaded their gear into a truckbed.

"But where is here, momma? And where are we gonna live?" Jessica asked, troubled by all of this. She had always lived on spaceships, stations, and other off-world areas.

"Well, the Navy has an apartment ready for us. We'll stay here until... Well, until we're given a new job, silly. As for where we are, this is Elysium. It is a new world that humanity is settling." Hannah explained, picking Jessica up and spinning her about before putting her back down to begin the long walk to the apartment.

"Will there be other kids here, momma?" Jessica prodded. That was the worst part about how much they moved, she never was able to stay friends with anyone.

"Hrmmm... Maaaaybe." Hannah stretched. "And maaaaaybe, you'll have a school and classes to attend now, too." she added, winking and laughing as she began off down the road.

Jess chased after her. "Oh, oh. Will there be any Asaris? or maybe some Salarians? or even a Turian? Remember back on Arcturus? Tila and Jordan and Garret were the best. Maybe there will be some really fun kids!"

Hannah smiled sympathetically.

This was the third move in as many years, Arcturus having been the second. Jess had really bonded there with some of the other children; Tila, daughter to a Human-Asari pairing, Jordan, a little Human boy, and Garret, a young Turian whose parents were entered in a Turian-Human training suite. When her mother had told her they were leaving _again,_ Jess had tried to hide with Tila in her room. Of course, Hannah had found her eventually, but Jess liked to think she was a good hider.

It took them a few hours, with a bit of sightseeing, but Hannah and Jess eventually arrived at the small apartment that had been provided. It was a spartan affair, with a screen for viewing television - mostly for news, as Jess had found out before - as well as two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, all along a single hallway.

"What is for dinner, momma?" Jess asked, a slight whine entering her voice as her stomach growled.

"Oooooh, I don't know. This is a special occasion, isn't it?"

Jess tried to wait patiently. They always had a special dinner on the first night of a move to a new place, but this time was extra special; it was the first time they were on a planet, not just near one.

Hannah walked to the back of the apartment. They had a small yard behind their unit with a fence to keep it private. In a corner, near the house, was a dark grey box of some kind. Jess looked at it suspiciously, still curious what they were going to have for dinner.

"Well, I figured that, since this is such a _special_ occasion, that we'd do something new. Back on Earth, they called this backyard grilling." Hannah explained, as she opened the contraption and showed the rows of metal bars inside.

"What does it do, though? Is it a super cooker? Can it make anything ever?" Jess asked, wonder and ideas now coming into form. She had never seen a grill, or even heard of one.

Hannah laughed. "Well, no. But it can cook a food you might be familiar with," she said, tantalizing. Then the patties were pulled out.

"Hamburgers!" Jess squealed. They had had hamburgers once back on a space station she couldn't even begin to recall the name of when she was five. Every day for the next month, Jess had bothered her mother for another. They had been so good, so new. Unfortunately, as Jess had found out, hamburgers were not readily available on space stations for at-home cooking.

With the grill lit up, Jess started handing her mother ingredients as they were called for. Hopefully, they'd stay here a bit longer; it was nice to be outside.

* * *

**2668 - Elysium**

This was the longest they had ever stayed in one spot. Jessica was so happy to be able to say, that, but saying it also admitted knowing that it would end. She had just turned fourteen a month ago, and the spring semester of school was coming to a close. In three weeks, it would be the beginning of the summer semester, but that seemed like it was ages away.

Jessica ran down the road along the river. Despite being a space colony for the Systems Alliance, Elysium was fairly suburban in nature. The population boom was much more focused to the inner city, but Mother had been able to avoid positions there, opting for border patrols and road checks. As a result, they lived in a small set down colony box house provided by the military out on the fringes of the capital city of the planet, Devon.

The school she attended was also just within the sphere of Devon. Some city kids and some military kids ended up attending the school, in a program Devon called the "Galactic Whole." Basically, instead of having to build schools for each race, Devon's city government was attempting to merge all the races the colony hosted into one curriculum, to spread understanding - as well as cut tax rates, according to Jessica's mother.

Kori, Spencer, and Riane were waiting for her near the spaceport. School had let out on time, but Jessica had stayed behind to get some extra questions in to her instructors on _Human Relations with other Species_. It was one of her favorite classes of the semester; it covered the past few decades in detail, which included the First Contact War. Having grown up with the stories from her mother, Jessica had been the star pupil during that section of the class. Now, they were talking about where Humanity stood in the Galactic community. Jessica understood they weren't on the council, but she didn't understand what the difference between an ambassador and a councilor was, and so she had stuck around to get a few more details on the subject before heading out.

Elysium's star hung off to the Northwest, painting a mosaic of oranges and yellows on the clouds above. The sky here had a slightly teal tint to it, and the atmosphere helped to create much longer sunsets and much more varied colors. Today was slightly basic, but it felt nice.

Jessica raced down the path a bit faster now, her dirty blonde hair streaming past her. She kept it either shoulder length, or in a ponytail, the military discipline of her mother having rubbed off on her quite readily. Today, however, it was down, past her shoulders. She wore a light blue button up shirt, loose dark washed jeans, and a pair of running shoes that she always enjoyed wearing for comfort, as well as ease of use.

The others and her had decided they were going to mess around a bit with a few of the discarded parts from the spaceport. They had already talked to the general manager, who had O.K.'d the activity, and so they had begun.

Spencer, a sixteen your old human boy who's parents had moved from Earth during the colonizing frenzy eight years ago, had been her friend since the second day she had arrived on Elysium. He had shoulder length black hair, and dressed similarly to a greaser in an old Earth film, minus the grease in his hair, which seemed almost to float. Jessica followed him everywhere; he was the best technical student in the academy. It didn't matter if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, every could see from the way she trailed him with her eyes that a flighty crush had developed.

Kori was a Salarian student, also extremely gifted at technology, although less so at creating new technology and more so at applying current tech to new problems for interesting solutions. He would often stammer and get caught on long side tangents about variability and other issues in his experiments whenever people tried to figure out what he was doing, but he would always help you out of a spot. Jessica had brought him into their group two years ago - much to the chagrin of Spencer and Riane, who disliked the image the Salarian brought with him.

Riane was an Asari, and Spencer's current girlfriend. Jessica couldn't admit to the jealousy this caused in her - sure, the Asari was pretty, but her attitude was sour and she was mediocre at best in most of her classes, except for biotics. But come on! Asari are natural biotics, of course she should be good at that. And then there was her superior attitude. Whenever Jessica would suggest an activity that Riane didn't like or wasn't good at, she would turn on the charm and convince Spencer to oppose it. Argh, Riane was just so... infuriating.

Luckily, Jessica knew Spencer liked to tamper with old technology in order to make new things a lot - he had crates full of broken down junk in his room that he would sometimes bring to their meet ups to mess with. Thus, when Jessica had suggested this outing, and both Kori and Spencer had agreed, Riane could do little more than follow along to be side lined by the three 'Tech geeks', as she called them when they were chest deep in junk.

Jessica, neither the best techie, nor the most outward thinking, was more suited to application of technology. She could use a piece of technology the way it was supposed to be used, but make it work ten times better for her than anyone else could. Kori would often test his new applications of existing tech by having Jessica attempt to utilize it for a week, and see what she came up with for optimizing the use. Similarly, when Spencer built a new device, Jessica would push it to the limits, and point out any flaws she could find, or limits, or breaks.

Thus, with the first round of junk being sorted through, Jessica was relegated to organizing piles while Spencer and Kori rifled through the piles of junk and handed her items of interest. Riane seemed uninterested in helping, instead staring at Spencer's backside appraisingly.

"Goddess this is booooring, Shepard. Why can't you have fun hobbies, like taking thrill rides." Riane pouted.

"Come on Riane, this'll be fun - oh, here Jess, this old capacitor might be useful." Spencer said, handing the part down.

"Yes. Quite useful. Maybe even have some residue of fuel left. Could extrapolate. Maybe synthesize replacement to fill firing chamber. Ah, but would need chemistry equipment. Will have to bring next time." Kori said, his rambling beginning to run off to a mumble.

"Why can't you just talk normal, Kori. Goddess, it's like you get some sick pleasure from using incomplete sentences and over information to bore people to death." Riane complained.

"Leave him alone, Riane. You know he just gets excited when an idea comes to him." Jessica said, as lightly as she could manage. "Besides, if he can make a substitute fuel, we might be able to build something with actual combustion this time. Wouldn't that be cool? I could do all sorts of things with something like that..."

"Err... Maybe we should only do a small amount at a time?" Spencer suggested, "Remember the last time we had something... ignitable?"

"Hey, come on. Professor Tandle totally said it was an accident and that she should have limited the amounts to less potent quantities." Jessica said, attempting a pout.

"She also said she'd never thought it would have been necessary, until you showed up." Spencer said, his eyebrows rising.

"Yes. She did seem... impressed with your application, Jess. It was... unanticipated. Quantities were hardly large enough to do what you did. The pressure, though. Quite impressive." Kori added.

Sighing, Jessica through her arms up in mock defeat. "Fine. You blow a hole in the academy lab wall **one** time, and suddenly it's limits here, and no explosions there. Spoil sports."

Spencer and Kori laughed, and even Riane smiled a bit at this. It was a good day.

"Alright, alright. It looks like we've got a decent set of stuff." Jessica said quickly, and not incorrectly. They had amassed quite the collection of pieces. "Lets label the piles so Mr. Stallra doesn't take them back, and then go grab something to eat." She added.

As they headed off, Spencer and Riane pressed forward a bit, holding each other closely. Jessica hated having to watch them be all... lovey dovey. It was salt on the wound, a wound she denied existed despite the pain.

Kori was consumed in thought when he cried out, "Oh. I left it. Be right back, my OSD is back at the spaceport."

Speeding back to the piles, Kori quickly was out of sight. Stuck with staring at Spencer and Riane, or helping Kori, Jessica quickly made the easy decision. "Guys? I'll be right back, Imma go help Kori out." When they didn't respond, she added "Hello? Pfftt." and headed after Kori.

The Salarian had reached the piles and was sifting through them. Jessica called out, "Hey, Kori, wait up. What does it look like? Can I help?"

She was thirty feet away from the pile when it happened. The entire wall facing them shot out in a massive explosion. The force picked her up like a ragdoll, and threw her back along the path, until she finally stopped a good 20 feet from where she had been previously. Her head hurt, and her arms were scraped. Her right foot felt like it had been bent in on itself, and looking down at it there was evidence of a break.

Where was Kori? Jessica slowly picked herself up, grabbing a nearby piece of metal to support herself. Adrenaline rushing, the injuries seemed to fade away. "KORI." she called out. No answer. "Is anyone out there? Hello? I... I need some help." Jessica called out. A fire raged in front of her, and pieces of debris were still falling around her. Fuel-based fire seemed to snake its way across pavement and ground alike, as it spread.

Suddenly, Spencer was there, grabbing her right arm and putting her weight on him. Riane had used her biotics to break a path through the fire, and was now leading them back through.

"Where was Kori, Jess? We need to find him and get help. There was an explosion in the spaceport. Jess. Focus on me."

Jessica suddenly realized that she had been drifting in and out of focus. "Kori was.. uhm.. near the.. near the piles," she began, licking her lips. She felt dehydrated, as if something had sucked all the water out of her. The adrenaline was beginning to die down, as was her fight or flight response. Suddenly, she felt her heartbeat hard in her chest. Looking down at her foot, a wave of fresh blood seemed to pump out of the wound. The wind blew, and the opened nerves immediately sent responses. This time, they connected. In a howl of pain, everything came crashing down.

"Jess, are you alright? Jess, keep focused. Shit. Riane, stay with her, I'm going to see if I can get help." Spencer said, his voice seeming to fade as he continued.

The edges of her vision were getting blurry. Weakly, Jessica added, "Don't.. forget Kori.. He was.. OSD.."

* * *

Jessica came to in a hospital bed. Mother was there, but she had her back turned, and was talking to some doctors. One of them, an Asari, recognized that she was waking up a bit and pointed it out. Suddenly, there was a mass of activity as the bed was swarmed. She felt her foot shoot pain back up her spine, and the burns on her arms began to heat up. Then, a cool flow washed over her as the darkness came crashing back in.

* * *

Jessica came to fully again. This time, she felt able to sit up. shoving herself back, she propped herself on her elbows. The pain exploded immediately. Looking down, she realized that her arms were fully bandaged in burn tape. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back in. She had been following after Kori, when the spaceport wall had blown out. There was fire, and she was being lifted up. She had.. put her arms up in front of her, and the heat had burned, burned so hot. And then she fell and landed, and her foot. Oh, the look of it, sideways and with bone sticking out. Jessica hesitated to look down, and then she saw her foot. It was the right direction, nothing incorrect about its shape.

Sighing, Jessica looked around the room. Mother was in a chair sleeping, and there were cards on the table from classmates, including Spencer and Riane. Smiling a bit, Jessica thought she might send Kori one too once she could ask someone to for her. He had to be in far worse shape then she, being closer to the blast.

Mother stirred in the corner, and began to wake up. Jessica just smiled. Her mouth felt as if it was stuffed with cotton, so talking seemed like something she would have to limit.

Her mother looked up, and saw her looking at her. "Oh honey. Thank goodness you're alright. I.. I don't know what I'd do if I'd lost you, too," her mother said, lapsing from her usual restraint of mentioning dad.

"K...Kori?" Jessica asked, her eyes saying the rest for her. How was he, did he need anything, what happened?

Tears streamed down mother's eyes. "Oh. Darling. I... He... the proximity of the blast... We couldn't get anyone close enough in time to help... He didn't make it, honey."

Jessica stared, her eyes going hollow. Her face began a long twist from anticipation to grief, as the information landed home. Crying openly - and mostly mute, due to the effects of the medications she was on - Jessica began to grieve her friends death. Her chest heaved and twisted with sobs, and she continued on for the next few hours, until there was nothing left to cry.

* * *

**2668 - Elysium**

Jessica had been in the hospital for five days now. Spencer and Riane had visited, but Jessica cared little. She had come to three days ago, only to learn that Kori had died. It was her fault. If she hadn't suggested the stupid project, if she had been there a little bit faster, if she had been more prepared.

Jessica tormented herself with the what ifs, as she had the past three days. The doctors weren't letting her leave until they were certain that her foot was on the fast track to normal use again. A major break in the shin bone, just above the ankle, from when she had landed on it after the explosion.

Her burns had been cleaned, sealed, and looked to be healing without any scarring. The doctors assured her that, if she followed their regiment, she would be just fine, as good as new even.

It didn't matter. She had gotten her best friend killed. It was all her fault.

Mother came in early. She had been taking off work to check up on Jessica for the past few days. Always worrying, always fussing. Jessica felt she liked the attention, at least a little bit. It distracted her from.. Kori.

Today was different, though. Today, mother came in seeming frustrated, angry, and out of patience.

"Alright Jessica, lets get it out on the table. You are blaming yourself for this, yes?" She began, pacing the room at the end of the bed.

Jessica looked at her sullenly, and then turned away.

"Look at me, Jess. I know this isn't fair, but being mad that you lived when he died is just silly. Would Kori have wanted you dead? Well? Would he?"

Jessica shook her head, turning to meet her mother halfway.

"And did you know that the spaceport was going to explode? That there would be an issue that day?" Mother pressed on.

"No..." Jessica said weakly, new tears flooding her eyes.

"And did you abandon him, give up on him, or attempt to leave him when it happened, honey?" Mother's tone had smoothed out, and was now soothing.

"No," Jessica howled clutching her mother as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"No, you didn't. The last thing Spencer says you told him was to get Kori, and the first thing you asked me was how he was. You didn't quit on him, and that's what counts. There was nothing you could have done, dear. NOTHING. What happened, it was awful, but you had zero influence on it happening, and you did everything in your limited power to try and salvage it, to try and save those around you. Take solace in that, knowing that Kori knew you never gave up on him." mother said, as she embraced Jessica and cradled her.

* * *

Jessica grabbed her crutches. It would take time to fully get over Kori's death, but her talk with mother had set her straight. She felt less guilt, and more grief, over his death now. Heading to the restroom, she smiled slightly. It was awful, but she felt better at being sad, rather than mad with herself. Looking in the mirror, Jess pushed her bangs out of her eyes. The grey-blue orbs shone back at her, and small specks of black and silver sparkled in them.

Wait... Her eyes didn't sparkle... Worry over took her as she rushed back to her bed, and called a nurse in.

"What's wrong with my eyes!" Jessica mewled, over taken with worry at what she had just seen.

The nurse pulled up her report, and looked it over. "Ahhhhh... The fire was burning refined EEZO near where you were caught in it. It seems some of the ash and dust grafted into your eyes. The doctor is running tests to see if any biotic tendencies form. I'm afraid that means that you will be here the next six weeks while they determine the extent of the effects, instead of only the next few days for injuries to set and heal."

Jessica looked out the window. Six weeks of just being alone with her thoughts. Sadness washed back over her, and her thoughts turned back to Kori.

* * *

**2669 - SSV Einstein**

It had been a year and six months since the spaceport explosion. Jess had healed fully; there was no permanent damage, and much of the dust in her eyes had worked its way out of her system. The doctors had determined that no meaningful biotic development had come out of the encounter, something her mother had seemed relieved at. Jess wasn't so sure... It would have be so cool if she had developed an ability to manipulate dark energy with her mind.

She had returned to school for the summer semester, and had noticed something odd about herself. When she used to pick up a piece of tech, she could rush through it and figure out how exactly to abuse it easily. Now, in addition to that, it seemed she was finding it easier and easier to seemingly slow down time and pick apart intricate details of the hardware and software, opening even more abuse cases for the main ability of the tech, but also helping her to disassemble and reassemble hardware in record times. Often, she could reassemble a piece to be more efficient at its task, even.

Spencer had stopped visiting as much. He had never been friendly with Kori unless Jess had been with them, but the death of the Salarian had seemed to strike him hard. Riane had left him three weeks after the incident, saying he was "Being so dramatic about some odd-ball Salarian freak" as she put it. Jessica had finally had enough of her quips about Kori and herself, and so she had fought Riane after the academy had let out that day. To Jessica's credit, she had landed some decent hits, but Riane finally grew bored of the struggle and threw up a stasis field around Jessica, tormenting her for a good forty-five minutes before leaving and letting her down.

Life had grown... stale, and Jessica started aching to be on the move again, when mother's new posting had arrived. By the end of summer semester, they had packed up and were off to the SSV Einstein, a carrier ship that had been tasked in the Attican Traverse.

Her mother was a guard for the CIC, and as such had grown friendly with a good portion of the crew fairly quickly. Jessica often came aboard with her mother for the first few months of duty, and would either stay near the CIC with her mother, or head down to the mess hall to listen to the stories from the First Contact War, as well as engagements with pirates and slavers on the edge of Council space.

Seven months after having arrived, it was her fifteenth birthday. Jessica was bored - as far as birthdays went, this should be awfully stale, as tradition was her and mother and any of her friends in their small living quarters celebrating, but there were no other kids here.

Yet, there she was, her mother leading her down the hall as if she was gong to be surprised. Jessica let out and audible sigh, putting up a big fake smile when her mother looked back and shook her head.

Jessica looked around. This wasn't... Where were they going? This wasn't the way to the crew quarters. And why were the lights in the hall off? What floor had they gotten off on?

Suddenly the mess hall opened in front of her, with a cake on the table. Something was off... why were they in the mess? Suddenly, the lights turned on, and a large portion of the crew screamed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" at her.

Jessica was startled. The sound was deafening, and wholly unexpected. Mother was laughing and beaming at her, as the captain moved towards her.

"Hey there, lil' miss," the large man said happily, "I hear this is t'be your fifteenth year. Still a small ways off from enlistin age, as I unnerstan'it?"

Jessica looked the man in the eye and smiled, at least partially to his odd accent. It was no secret that she planned to join the Navy on her eighteenth birthday; she shared it with anyone who would listen.

"Then congratulations are in order. I am Captain Cornelius, and I might have a proposition fer ya. As it so happens, my engineering deck has a need for a runner for datapads. If'n you would be willing to fulfill that position, I'm sure we could find room for you to _stay _on the ship. Why, I bet the engineers might even be convinced to tour you through the engines and talk shop with you." Captain Cornelius was sharing a half glance with her mother, but Jessica didn't care. Not having to be on a space station, alone, for months at a time? She was practically buzzing.

Jessica looked from Captain Cornelius to her mother, who was smiling with all the pride she could muster. Turning back to the Captain, Jessica tried to speak, but when the words wouldn't come she just shook her head vigorously up and down. Yes, she wanted to scream, yes yes yes!

The crowd cheered again, and the party moved forward.

* * *

Jessica had been acting as the ship paige for a few months now. While most messages were sent electronically, Jessica was in charge of datapad deliveries, mostly on the engineering floor. While there, she had begun to chat among the crew and learn about the engines, how they worked, and what they could do.

From engineering, Jessica had expanded her services to the hanger bay. Mostly, she sat around with the marines after missions and listened to their stories; of Batarian pirates attempting raids on colonies, and a certain unease that had settled over the Attican Traverse. Often, they would discuss these stories while cleaning their equipment. Jess had never seen a gun broken down and cleaned before, but as she watched, her fingers began to itch.

This was where she shined. She loved to disassemble and reassemble pieces, and finally one day she exploded with questions.

A marine named Jose Lynd was breaking down a Volkov X sniper rifle when Jessica blurted out, "Why not shift the heat sink here," pointing slightly to the right of where the soldier was snapping the part back in.

The marine looked up incredulously. They all knew who she was, of course, but she almost never spoke out of turn, and she rarely spoke about weapons with them. Of course, she always talked 'shop' with mother, but she seemed almost to guard what she knew from others.

Swallowing slightly, and seeming to try not to laugh, the man said, "Well, because it snaps in here," patting where the piece now sat on the rifle.

Jessica, however, pressed on. The dam had broken, and now her ideas were spilling out. "Yeah, but... Well, what if you moved it? And then, the capacitor to here, and..." she began pointing at separate parts and detailing what she'd do.

Jose seemed overwhelmed. Another marine walked by and overheard the exchange going on. A small laugh escaped him, and he waved over a bit more of the squad over.

Jose, seeing a growing circle surround them, tried to back out of the conversation. "Yes, yes, that sounds very, uhm, neat. But this is how the rifle goes together, see?" and he broke the rifle down within a few seconds, and then built it back up in a similarly short amount of time.

Jessica shook her head and put her hand out, "Give it here, let me show you."

This elicited a collective laugh from the circle of marines. Jose was going to refuse and tell her to run off, but some other soldier in the crowd shouted out, "Give it to her, Lynd. Lets see what she can do."

Taking the offered Volkov, Jessica broke it down. It took her longer than Jose had, but when she had all the pieces in front of her, she set about breaking apart certain parts even further. The heat sink, barrel, capacitor, and scope were all disassembled further, and then rebuilt in a new, slightly different way. Assembling the rifle back together, the barrel extended slightly further out, the capacitor was condensed, and the heat sink was expanded both into the old capacitor location, and out further along the length.

Holding the finished product in front of her, Jessica handed it over to Jose Lynd. "Go on, give it a test," she said. The circle parted and a target was set up at the far end of a test range. Heading there, Jose sighted down the rifle experimentally. When he finally reached the shooting bed, Jose sprawled out and took aim. The range equipment would measure force and accuracy, and he would fire as rapidly as possible in order to try and over take the heat sink. On average, the Volkov could only get two shots out.

The heat sink locked up after the third shot left the barrel. Jessica smiled. She knew it would do better, it had been a simple efficiency upgrade. The readings only backed her further; a fifteen percent increase in force and accuracy. The gun was better than ever, thanks to her tampering.

The marines all joked around, giving Jose as much lip as they could. After that day, Jessica started spending less time listening to stories and more time at the weapons bench, showing off her ability to strip down and build up weapons to the marines.

* * *

**2686 - Athame's Embrace**

Liara pulled away from the meld momentarily. The memories she had seen were all... so vivid in her mind. As the black in her eyes retreated, she ached for the return of the sensation of wind blowing through hair, and sun bouncing off her freckles. Although she had never had a hamburger, the memory of Jessica eating one made her salivate, as if she could taste the food herself.

Liara began to fall back a bit, before Aethyta rushed over to support her. "Liara. You need to finish. The process is only started."

Liara looked at a nearby clock. Only fifteen minutes had passed by. "How has it been so little time? It was... They were so detailed. The memories, it was as if I was her, and yet not at the same time."

"Yes, Little Wing. No doubt, there is some confusion even now as to what you are feeling. But you must keep at it, or the link will break and we will have to start anew."

Liara shook her head. Something about the next memory seemed... different. It wasn't wrong, but the feel was odd, as if already occupied. "Father... I... The next memory, it is... I do not recognize how to involve myself in it. It feels... odd." Liara said, trying to explain her perception.

Aethyta sucked in slightly, "Well, Shepard is probably browsing her own memories as well. You may be sharing the experience if it seems... full? Does that sound accurate?"

Liara only nodded. That was the best way to explain it; full. As if another mind had already latched onto the memory.

"Come now, let us continue." Aethyta said, motioning at Shepard.

Liara's eyes began the meld again. Looking at her arm, there was an Alliance Navy uniform. It felt... right. Reaching up to check her hair, the ponytail was still in place...

* * *

**2670 - Mindoir**

My birthday had come and gone. It was fantastic. Jose Lynd, mom, even Captain Cornelius; they had all brought small gifts for the 16th year. Jose gave me a sniper manual and a catalog of rifles. Mom had signed me up for Junior Infiltration Tactics - it sounded kinda kiddish, but I was so excited anyway. We were going to stop by Arcturus so I could do the training for a few months while the Einstein did some deep patrols. And Captain Cornelius had given me the best gift of all, a mock Alliance Uniform. I had marched up and down the halls for a week in that thing before I finally missed tampering in the hanger bay.

We were scheduled to stop by Arcturus last week, but then an emergency signal had reached us. Mindoir had been hit by slavers, and there was no time to drop off non-combatants at a nearby space station. Immediate reaction was required. Mom had told me to stay in Engineering while we were on mission; she didn't want me messing up any of the crews focus. But hey, the hanger is _close_ and that weapons bench basically had my name on it now. I had headed down to the hanger very quickly, since mom was stuck on the CIC guarding.

Jose Lynd was gearing up. They were going to be flying recon missions over the colony before the transports were sent down to help survivors. Being a carrier, the Einstein rarely set down ground forces, offering air support and fighter support in world and space battles, respectively.

Climbing on his fighter's wing, I stuck my nose in Jose's face and said, "Hey, hows prep going."

He nearly jumped out of his skin. I was always good at sneaking up on people, and it only magnified when they were hard at work.

"Dammit, Jess, I can't fight if I have a heart attack first," he complained.

"Oh, whatever. What are you going to be doing?" I asked him, trying to sweet talk some information out. Truth was, I was bored. Everyone was suddenly so busy and had no time for the tech girl that could make any weapon sing.

"Well, I'm going to be flying this fighter here over the colony and giving back intel on enemy positions and the general status of the colony. And what were your marching orders, Miss Shepard?" Jose finished with a miniature flourish before going back to his prep-work.

"Oh, y'know, this and that," I said, evasively. It was obvious what my mom had told me to do. Thankfully, Jose didn't press for more.

"Huh. Alright, missy. Well, how about this: I finish prepping and then go do my mission, and when I come back, we'll do some target practice, and you can play with my guns, make 'em all purr like tigers." Jose winked. I wasn't supposed to shoot the weapons, _technically_, not even on range. But, after a few weeks of non-stop pestering, and a bit of charm, I finally had gotten Jose to crumble on that - a few months ago. Now we would sneak off to do target practice every now and then, and calibrate weapons.

Sighing dramatically, I accepted his offer, and slunk off to engineering again. Hopefully the mission would be fast, because now all I could do was be excited about target practice.

* * *

Jose was being involved in the fighting with the stragglers. Foolish slavers, what could they possibly have gained from staying so over long? Disgusting enough that they still practiced that sick trade, but the pure idiocy; as if the Alliance wasn't going to respond.

I had been waiting about, either in mine and mom's rooms, or down in engineering. Mom was busy; the Einstein had sent the traditional guard force and some marines down to the surface to organize survivors. Mom said she and a friend of hers, Zabaletta?, were going to be planetside for the next few days. I was feeling particularly lonely today. Everyone was too busy, and I had little to do.

I had set up a lab of sorts on my bed. I was going to try and amp the signal of my omni-tool, see if I couldn't pull in a few more terabytes of data on it. I began the overclocking process, and set the tool down. That would self diagnose in a few hours, and I would be able to test if it worked. It only now struck me that I had taken my last source of entertainment down for a bit of time. "Ugh.." I groaned, as I flopped on my bed.

My hand landed on an old console. Mom had brought along a bunch of OSDs that had information of different council races. Sighing to myself, I began flipping through them.

There was one on the Rachni Wars, another on the Krogan Rebellions. Boring. I had learned all I needed of those from school back on Elysium.

"Hrmmm..." I sighed to myself, "What to do..."

The Asari and Turian OSDs fell out of the pile. That was something I hadn't finished studying; galactic cultures. And while it sounded boring as all hell, I had nothing else to do. So why not?

Riane, back on Elysium, had always said that their studies were split by race. That humans didn't want their youth learning about other cultures, for fear of being revolted by their own. I had always laughed at her, and named as many famous Asari as I could remember to try and disprove her. She never let it go though, and that had always bothered me. Maybe... she might have been on to something.

Pushing the Asari OSD in, I began to watch. The first bit was slightly dry; it named their home world, what the climate was like, what they ate, the fauna and general culture - if you could call a series of city states a general culture.

This OSD, however, had been furnished by the Council, not the Alliance. After the boring bits about their trees and dogs and stuff, I started to notice a distinct difference between my studies and the current source in front of me. Namely, the Alliance version had dismissed the Asari as a disorganized grouping of city-states, while this seemed to suggest a more complex inter working of the long lived race. While I had obviously heard of the Matriarchs, the way they were explained here made them sound like a continuously cycling government made up of the wisest members of the race. It sounded... ideal. As if, instead of competing with the young, the old directed them and helped to further goals of the race. Since all Matriarchs were given this respect and power, all styles of life were included.

Suddenly, I realized that my omni-tool had been going off, telling me my overclocking analysis had finished. Setting aside the old console, I started running my tests on the omni-tool.

* * *

There hadn't been very many survivors from the colony and, as first-responders, we had to take critical cases with us, while leaving supplies for non-critical so that the rest could survive on their own. I was helping load the supplies we had packed for those staying behind when mom's transport came back.

Mom seemed slightly rattled as she stepped off the transport. Of course, compared to her friend, Zabaletta, she might as well have been in perfect condition. After being helped off the ship, he was quietly escorted to his quarters. Every now and then, he would see someones face and start screaming. I didn't understand why, and my face suggested as much. Jose, who had landed a bit earlier, saw the slight disgust on my face and seemed to get mad - at me.

"Why don't you, ah, come with me for a bit, mini-Shep?" Jose called out.

Mom was just getting off the transport, and silently nodded her OK. I went over to Jose, and we started walking down the hanger.

"Jess, why do you look like you've been suddenly caught up in sickness?" Jose asked, obviously already knowing.

I fidgeted uncomfortably. Jose seemed mad, and the fact that mom had OK'd this suggested only one of two things; either she was going to be preoccupied for a while, or she was mad too. Meekly, I answered, "Well, that man. He seemed... out of control, even though he is a soldier. Shouldn't he be... I don't know... more prepared for dealing with battle? It just seemed so... I don't know, it was just... pathetic."

"Pfft. Small fry. What do you know about battle? Can you honestly say you would be ok, after what we just saw? Do you even know what it was like?" Jose asked, some spite lacing his words.

I felt totally out of my comfort zone. Breathing felt a bit harder, and I looked around wildly. No one ever pushed me so much, tested my pre-conceptions so thoroughly. "Look, I just.. It doesn't fit with what I've been told to expect. Why would he have joined up if he couldn't handle it?" It seemed reasonable to me. This was expected of him, he should have realized that.

"Jessica Shepard. Let me describe to you what I saw, from up in my pilot chair; bodies of the slain stacked in piles and lit afire, the old and young gunned down in the streets, and only children and youth who were injured or dead. The slavers swept in from the west, and collected every young person they could. They only took the ones who weren't maimed or wounded severely, which caused many to choose to purposefully injure themselves in awful ways to avoid being taken. The smoke in the air was thick from parts of the colony that had been started on fire, and the stench was strong even from my vantage. Is that what Zabaletta, or your mom, or I signed up for? Do you think I wasn't affected? Do you think your mom wasn't?"

I began to fidget even more furiously. It didn't sound good, that was for sure, but I still felt it was expected that they be prepared for the unexpected.

Jose must have realized I wasn't coming around. Cursing slightly, he stopped. We were in front of the next supply shuttle. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, Jess. I can't explain the horrors of war, and I can't have your idealism making you incorrigible about these things. Get on the ship, we'll go see first hand."

I looked around, apprehension growing. Seeing no one else around, I decided to follow. How bad could it be? And when I was right, I'd have proof that I belonged in the military when I hit eighteen.

* * *

We were descending into the landing zone. The air was thick, the smoke dark and rolling. There was a smell involved in it; a combination of burning EEZO and rot. It stung my eyes, and I started tearing up, despite myself, because of the particles in the air. We landed at a refuge, and people started off-hauling the equipment. Jose took my hand and led me down, out of the building. They had secured the area, but clean up had not been started.

I looked around. Fires raged in many of the buildings, but what struct me first was the carnage. There were Batarians, Asari, Humans, Turians, and Salarians dead in the streets. The pirates, it appeared, came from all species. As we walked through the streets, I felt something squish under my shoe. Looking down, the guts of a nearby person were under my feet. I felt my stomach turn, and I uttered a cry before running to a corner that was not currently covered in gore to throw up. Jose just smiled slightly, and held me lightly.

"Hey, hey. It's alright. Lets keep going. Just a little further."

"No. I.. I can't." I said weakly, my head spinning from the smell of vomit and rot mixing.

"Oh? So, it is too much for the great soldier?" Jose gibed.

Steeling myself slightly, I turned and shook my head.

Jose took my hand, and led me on. Weakly, I kept after him, not wanting to be alone in the destruction. Eventually, we came to the top of a hill, and stopped. From this vantage, we could see much of the colony. Similar scenes dotted each alleyway and road in the area. Suddenly, there was movement to our left. A little girl, about seven or eight, came out of hiding from behind some rubble. She was missing her left arm from below the elbow; the edge was still bandaged, and the cut-off looked uneven.

"What.. How did **that** happen?" I asked her.

The girl ignored me and ran to Jose. Reaching him, she motioned him down and whispered in his ear. I watched expectantly.

Jose nodded, a grave look on his face. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out an emergency ration and gave it to her. She ran off, still ignoring me.

"What did she say? What happened to her?"

"She asked for some food, and told me a bit about some slavers who hid a ways down the road. I need to radio this in, Jess. Just, sit tight, we'll be leaving soon."

Jose walked in the direction the girl had apparently pointed, and got on his radio. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time, as I continued to look about. The area around us was mostly covered in Human remains. I saw a woman that looked a bit like mom, her face bruised and bloodied. She had a hole in her chest, and the left side of her head was caved in. I began to cry heavily, as the similarities between her and mom matched up more and more. For a moment, irrationally, I thought it might actually be her. How could that be? I told myself, she was on the Einstein when I left.

Jose came over and turned me around. I wasn't listening to him, though. Lost in my thoughts, his words just registered as sound. He started to shake me lightly while a stood there, hugging myself. I felt pathetic. How was I going to be an Alliance soldier? I couldn't even walk into a cold zone without losing my cool.

Jose was hugging me now. I unfolded my arms and wrapped them around him, sobbing openly now. The destruction around me seemed to fade away, and I felt safe again, there in his arms. Holding tightly, I felt myself lifted up, as he started walking back to the landing zone, carrying me.

Finally, I calmed down enough. Jose was still talking to me, I think.

"...its going to be alright, babe. I'm sorry, we should have stopped earlier, but I wanted to make my point. I'm so sorry. It'll be OK. Shhhh, shhh shh sh." He was stroking my hair.

"I'm so sorry, Jose." I croaked. "So sorry for what I said. I.. I didn't know... I didn't realize..." I buried my face in his shoulder, tears streaming again.

"It's OK, really. Hey... Hey. It'll be fine. It isn't something you can know without seeing it, babe. You had to see to know. Shhh shh sh." Jose was kneeling down, putting me on my feet now.

"What.. How did that girl... her arm, what happened?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Oh, mini-Shep. You really don't want to know, hun. Just... Just don't ask, please." Jose said, holding my hand as he stood back up.

"Tell me. I need to know, Jose. Please." I asked, steeling myself for what was coming.

Jose grimaced. "Alright... She... She hacked it off herself just before the slavers found her, so that the slavers would leave her be. When they saw what she had done to herself, they took her mother, father, and brother outside and forced her to watch as they killed her family. They had her father executed, her brother beaten senseless and taken away to be a slave, and her mother was abused. They beat her, and when she fought back, they shot her through the chest. Apparently, her mother lived through the shot, and they bashed her head in. After forcing her to watch the murder of her family and her brother being stolen to slavery, they were getting ready to use her. Then the Einstein arrived, and she slipped away, escaping into the destruction."

I had stopped moving part way through the story. My stomach was empty, and so I was dry heaving. My head was swimming, as I realized the woman I had seen back at the clearing on the hill matched the description of the girls mother. I had let go of Jose's hand, and now I was holding my chest as I tried not to break down again. Breathing was getting hard, and the edges on my vision started to blur.

"Jessie? Jessica! Hey, stay with me bud. Shit. Come on, kid." Jose was picking me up again as the shock took over.

* * *

The shuttle shook as it left the atmosphere and we started the space portion of our journey back to the Einstein. Critical cases had been loaded into the shuttle. In the far corner, I recognized the girl with the missing arm sitting, stone faced. I looked up, and saw Jose standing over me, talking to someone on his comm unit.

"Look, I'm sorry Hannah. I should have stopped after just slightly leaving the LZ, but she always seems so strong... Yes. Yes. I, yeah. I'm sorry Hannah. Come on. Yes ma'am. But... No. Its just. Yeah, she's alright. Just a bit shocked. Hannah, I'm really sorry... Please, it'll be ok."

Jose looked a bit distraught. I could tell mom was yelling at him pretty thoroughly, and I knew this was just the start. I pulled his free hand, and he looked down at me, sympathy filling his eyes. Pointing at my ear, I mouthed at him, "Let me talk."

Hesitating, Jose nodded. "Hey.. Hannah.. Yes, I know.. But, Hannah... Jess wants to say hi, Hannah. You can yell at me more later."

He handed me the unit, and I placed it to my ear.

"Mom?" I asked, tentatively.

"You. Absolute. Fool." I heard her seethe. "How could you. I just, what were you thinking, Jessica? Why would you go down there? You've been reckless, but never like this. I just don't even understand, not even slightly. If you think I'm going to be letting you go down to the hanger anymore, Oooh. Just, dammit Jessica." I could feel her shaking through the comm.

"Mom. I'm... It's OK. Jose didn't do anything wrong, I chose to go down with him, and chose to follow him into the colony."

"No. Just, no. Jessica, do you know what it would feel like if I lost you? I can't do it. I can't lose you so needlessly. Don't try and justify this somehow, it was reckless, and Jose should have known better."

"But mom! Just... just listen, please. Before that trip, I was being a real jerk. When your friend was acting spooked, I called him a coward. I feel awful for it now, but I couldn't have understood, not without what Jose showed me."

Swallowing, I realized that I had needed this, despite how unpleasant it was. "And Jose never let me out of his sight. He's a good soldier, mom. You know that. He didn't let anything happen to me. Please, don't be mad at him. If you have to be mad, it was my fault. And I've learned my lesson, easily. I'm willing to pay the price, but leave Jose out of it." The pleading in my voice was high, and I felt more child-like as I listened to it die away.

Mom seemed to hesitate. She was always reasonable, and I doubted heavily that she would push this any further if she felt reassured. "Alright... tell Jose he's off the hook. But you and me? We're going to have a long, hard talk, miss. I don't want you ever scaring me like this again. It isn't something I enjoy, having heart attacks due to my child going into hot spots."

"I love you, mom." I finished, and handed the unit to Jose.

"Hannah? Yes. OK. I'm sorry, again, Hannah. Really, I meant no harm. I promise I'll keep my dist-... OK, well, thank you. Yes, she can be, but I should have... Alright, see you when we arrive. Thank you again, this means a lot." and at that, Jose disabled the channel.

"Did she... She isn't going to cut you to pieces anymore, is she?" I asked, wincing slightly.

"No... but you might not be so lucky. You certainly know how to stress the boundaries, kid." Jose smiled a bit at me. Then his face got serious, and he kneeled down next to me, grabbing my shoulders so I had to look at him. "I want you to know, I am truly sorry for what happened down there. I just... wanted to show you. The world knows you want to join up as soon as possible, and I didn't want to hear of your inevitable breakdown later on in life. It is something every soldier eventually has to see, and I think you are going to be one hell of a soldier, kid. Just, never forget what you learned down there, OK?"

I nodded, and hugged him, as hard as I could. Tears soaked my shoulder, and I realized he was crying. Then I felt my own eyes water, and a mewl escaped my mouth. We comforted each other for a bit, and the shuttle arrived at the hanger.

* * *

**2672 - Arcturus Station**

It was the day before my eighteenth birthday. I had been training in the Junior Infiltration Tactics class for the past year and a half, ever since Mindoir. All through it, I had kept Jose's lesson close to heart. The first few weeks, I had nightmares of what I'd seen. The smell of burnt flesh, the feeling of choking on the thick smoke, and the little girl missing her left arm.

Tomorrow, I was bale to enlist. I was so excited, especially since the Einstein would be coming in for repairs to Arcturus late tonight, which meant that mom and Jose could come with me when I enlisted. I had talked to them earlier in the week over FTL comm, and they were excited for me as well.

Falling asleep was hard, but I eventually did it. The alarm was set for 0700. Time couldn't go by fast enough.

* * *

My alarm peeled out. Shooting out of bed, I raced over to my dresser and put on my academy dress uniform. Then, I mapped out the route to the dry docks, and raced there. Arriving at the dock where the Einstein was, I waited expectantly. Jose and mom would be out at 0730, they said. I was five minutes early.

Daydreaming about the future, I could only think about what it would be like, to finally serve in a unit, to be responsible for my own gear, and to be able to serve the greater good. I was staring dreamy-like at a wall when a hand touched my shoulder. Then I heard Jose say, "Look at her, can't even wait for us to begin conquering the galaxy. I bet she was thinking all about charging into battle."

Mom only laughed. "Yeah, captaining her own ship and swooping in to save the day. It's her favorite story to make up when she falls asleep."

"Mooooom." I moaned, pushing her hand off my shoulder. "Geesh, can't you keep anything a secret."

Jose just laughed harder, "Would your ship be named the SSV Superman? Or were you more of a Wonder Woman kinda girl?"

Sighing heavily, I gave Jose a look of pure irritation. "First of all, **old man**, no one reads those old things anymore. Second of all, stooop it." I added a pouting lip to try and convince him.

"Look, she's put out a target for practice shooting, Hannah!" Jose said, laughing even harder now.

Mom laughed as well, and we started on our way.

The recruitment office was fairly close to the docks, so it didn't take very long to get there.

Stepping in, I handed them my pre-filled paperwork. As that was processed, I stood off to the side, listening to stories of the Einstein's deep patrol set. They had apparently had a run-in with pirates in the Skyllian Verge, and there seemed no end to the stories.

Suddenly, the entire office quieted down. Turning from Jose and mom, I saw Captain Anderson walk in, a hero of the First Contact War, and a very decorated soldier even after.

Anderson nodded at the crowd, and everyone went back to their own business. The cool certainty with which he controlled a room was... Well, I knew immediately why the stories of him were so prevalent. Then my jaw tried to hit the floor as I watched him walk into the admissions office. I knew a commanding office of a ship over viewed enlistments, but normally they did so over secure channels, not in person. And to add that it was _Anderson_ and I was suddenly nervous beyond compare.

"Did you see?... Was that?... Oh my goodness... I... HIM?" I sputtered, turning back to mom and Jose.

"Hehehehe, you seem to attract the biggest of them all, no matter where you go." Jose said, laughing.

Mom joined in on the laughing, and added, "Yeah, you seem a magnet for interesting events, that is true." She smiled at me warmly, "Don't worry, honey. You'll be fine."

Sighing, I relaxed back in to the conversation... mostly. An eye still strayed to that door and lingered, though, and my heart kept pounding.

An hour passed, and they called my name.

I came to the desk, and they directed me into the admissions office.

"Shepard, Jessica. Daughter to Engineer Frederick Shepard and Staff Lieutenant Hannah Shepard. Age, eighteen. Interest, Infiltration Tactics and Special Tasks Forces. Studied in Global Cultures at an academy on Elysium, as well as independent studies. Also expresses a natural talent with Technology. References from Captain Cornelius of the SSV Einstein, Staff Lieutenant Shepard of the SSV Einstein, and Operations Chief Lynd. All references also express an innate ability with technology. Does this sum up your character well, Miss Shepard, or is there more you wish to add?" Anderson asked.

I stood there, feeling a bit overwhelmed. My hands were held behind my back, and I had a direct stance, with my feet snapped together as I stood at the head of the table. The group of officers and admissions workers sat along the sides of the table, and Anderson sat at the other end. I cleared my throat, thinking as fast as I could about what to say.

"Well, I'd like to add that I understand I can't be ready for everything, but that I will try my best to do what needs to be done, sir. I wasn't sure how to write that, I suppose. Also, that I am willing to put the work in. Thank you for letting me add, sir."

Anderson smiled a bit. "Is that so, child? I can't say as I disagree, from the look of you. Reading your record further, it looks like you had a minor exposure to EEZO when you were fourteen on Elysium. It also reads that you lost a friend, and were pretty badly hurt. What does that bring to your character, Shepard?"

I steeled myself to not look away, to swallow the fear of the memory. Kori had been a good friend. "I... My mother taught me that sometimes, I can only do so much. That the best I can do is never give up. And I didn't, not on Kori. Not until after..."

Anderson shifted slightly, looking a bit guilty. "It's ok, child. I only wanted to hear what you took away, and it sounds like the right lesson. Your mother is a smart woman to have ensured that. Moving on, what happened on Mindoir? Why were you planetside? The Alliance needs soldiers, Shepard, but reckless abandon is not useful in a soldier. We need smart, intelligent people who know to value their own life as well as others."

This one was much harder to avoid an emotional reaction to. I tried my hardest, but my voice still choked up a bit as I recalled the imagery. "Well, you, uhm, you see sir... My mother and a fellow marine, named Zabaletta, had just returned from the, uh, mission. I made some, uhm, less than kind comments on Zabaletta's break down after the mission to Jose Lynd. I then... Well, I convinced him to take me down because I did not believe that something could be so bad as to break the emotional backbone of a true soldier."

"When we arrived, Jose took me into the colony a bit. I saw... death, and smelled it, and choked on the smoke of it. It surrounded me as we went deeper into the city. Jose offered to take me back if I admitted my mistake, but I was overly... stubborn, so we kept going further. When we reached a small clearing on a hill, a girl climbed out of the rubble. She was only seven or eight, and she had a shirt tied around a stump where her left arm should have been, just under the elbow. The cut was jagged, and still fresh, but she seemed unphased. She ran over to Jose, and whispered to him. Jose, in turn, handed his rations to her and radioed in information about a few pirates that had hidden nearby."

"I, ah, well, I walked over to a body nearby that struck me. It looked a lot like my, uhm, my mother. It all seemed so excessive. The shock, uhm, got to me. I had a bit of a breakdown, and Jose carried me out. When I finally got a hold of myself, part way back to the LZ, I asked him what had happened to the girl's arm. He told me she had sawed it off so as to avoid being taken by the slavers, and that her family had paid a price for it. Her story tore at me unlike anything else had." I took a ragged breath as the memory hit home. "I learned that day that soldiers don't go into battle prepared for anything; they go into battle prepared to be a base for their comrades and those they are fighting for."

Anderson nodded, a knowing look in his eyes. "You seem to have had an eventful time in life, so far Shepard. I anticipate great things to flow from you in the following years serving."

I looked down, expecting to have been told no because of the incident at all. Then, I snapped back. "Sir?"

"Welcome to the Alliance, Shepard. Based on your knowledge and past history, I'm suggesting an enlistment rank of Corporal. You can collect your gear at the requisitions officer. Dismissed."

I snapped to attention, then hurried out of the room, failing quickly at hiding a smile that was spreading across my face.

As I headed over to my mom and Jose, all restraint broke. I beamed with excitement and rushed over, hugging them both and sharing the news.

* * *

**2686 - Earth (-1 week from Present)**

It had been a week since the crucible had fired, now. Steve was on Earth, south of London, with the remnants of what had been the resistance and hammer team. Global communication relays had started coming back up as each cell repaired the damages to their communications. A network was starting to form.

About a day ago, they had caught so chatter from a few fly-overs done by carrier crews above Earth. It looked like there were search parties being organized. Heartened by this, Steve had offered to help in any way he could. The techs had given him a list of parts, and he got to work stripping his Kodiak down to fill the order. It was unhappy business; he had a lot of good memories in this bird, but it was necessary. Time enough for new memories.

After fulfilling the list of pieces for the tech, Steve walked off to sit and think. There wasn't a lot for him to do; he wasn't interested in living at his house on Earth, too many old memories of Robert, and he had moved on from that part of his life. No... maybe he would find a nice place on a colony world, Elysium maybe, or Feros, and settle down there.

Of course, he could also stay on as a pilot for the Alliance, but Steve felt... tired. He wasn't enthusiastic about leaving the Alliance, but it didn't feel like home to him anymore. No, a nice quiet life in a colony sounded perfect.

Contemplating the future, Steve looked out at the horizon. It was getting late, and the sun was beginning its descent into the skyline.

* * *

**2686 - Thessia**

**Apartments**

Chakwas was still drinking her Elasa. Tomorrow needed to come on quickly, so that she could review the tissue sample results and finally try to explain to Liara why she had hidden the truth. Of course, first she'd have to understand it herself, seeing as it made no sense to her anymore as to why she had hidden it.

Her omni-tool alerted her to an incoming call. Shaking her head, Chakwas attempted to answer without leading on to the fact that she was very drunk.

"Hallo, and who might I have the pleasure of talking to?" Chakwas said, the slur in her voice unmistakable.

"Chakwas... are you... drunk? Oh my... OK, I'm going to be right over. Some data was just sent from the lab with the automatic results from our tests, and I thought you'd like to see them." a voice sounding extremely similar to Miranda's said.

"That is lovely dear. I will be... here... so you can just..." Chakwas couldn't think of the words she wanted. Hiccuping slightly, she amended herself, "Oh, I can't think of the... the... Oh dear. Words! that is it, words."

"I'll, uhm, see you soon, Chakwas." Miranda mumbled, as the call ended.

What a lovely girl, always so prim and proper. Chakwas held her glass to her forehead and sighed heavily, closing her eyes.

The door suddenly opened. "Dr. Chakwas, are you in here?"

Eyes snapping back open, Chakwas groaned inwardly as her head spun. "Hello? Is that you... Miranda? Oooh..." Chakwas muttered as her head tumbled. Miranda made her way into the kitchen, still calling out here and there. Building up her voice, Chakwas called out, "I'm in the living room, Miranda. Just... ooh, my head... Just give me a moment. You got here awfully fast. We only just ended our call, didn't we?"

"Uhm... That was four hours ago, Doctor. I thought I'd let you, erm, recover." Miranda said, wincing slightly.

"Oh, my, where did the time go." Chakwas said, bewildered. "No matter, you had some, uhm... data?"

"Yes... The tissue samples came back negative for the nanites in the blood stream of every sample. We'll need to do more tests, but I want to say that Shepard seems to be a unique case." Miranda said, the business-like demeanor returning to her.

"Alright, what do you suggest?" Chakwas said, her head starting to clear from sudden need as they began to plan for the next set of tests.


	6. Ch5: Memories - To Have Loved And Lost

**A/N:** We move from the formative years of Jessica's life to her early military career.

* * *

**2686 - Thessia: ****Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities**

Aethyta looked at Liara. She was sitting in a chair next to Shepard, her forehead against the human's. Liara's fingers snaked in the dirty blonde hair, gripping tightly as she twitched with concentration. Her crest crackling heavily while in the meld.

The girl had been in Shepard's memories for two hours now. Each time she switched to a new memory, her face seemed to ease - as if coming up for air after trying to hold her breath under water - and then contort again - like being plunged back under ice water. Aethyta remember the waves of memories from her melding with Benezia. There had been few crests to conquer, but they were deep, mysterious waves of memory. In contrast, Liara seemed to switch memories often.

It made a certain amount of sense; Asari, being so long lived, might have less defining moments early on if life than humans, who need to grow and mature in their own quickly in order to be prepared for their short lives. Not to mention that this was Shepard, the most famous Human in the galaxy, whose adventures would be told to the countless masses of each species. She had done a lot to save the Galaxy, and any father should be proud to have their daughter mated to her, but Aethyta felt her very fiber scream against it.

This Human was dangerous. Maybe not specifically her, but what she attracted. Sure, she had over come a lot, but the problem Aethyta had was that more always came. Her Little Wing had grieved for two years back when the relationship was a mere fling, only to have the crazy human come back to life and drag her back into danger. Bah, what was she going to do?

Aethyta resolved that, if Shepard truly did wake up from this, a few favors from her maiden days would see filling to get her point across to the crazy human.

* * *

**2676 - Elysium**

It had been a fast four years. Jess had graduated top of her class in Infiltration Tactics, and assigned to an N5 recon frigate; the SSV Midway. After such success in training, she had received a commission as First Lieutenant, as well. Her commanding officer, Commander Rawley, was an old hand in the military, having seen action in the First Contact War. His career seemed to have reached its apex, but Rawley put off as if it had not soured him. He always seemed cheerful, if stern, in demeanor.

Jess had toured with the ship through the Attican Traverse for the past two years, and earned herself the nickname Crackshot Casper. The name came from her ability to land shots from outside normal ranges with any rifle, as well as her ability to creep up on people and also not be sneaked up on. This ability of hers had been verified many times over when Commander Rawley would have practice missions where the squad would be pit against each other. Jess never lost the survival missions, and team missions became stalemates if she was on defense, or massacres if she was on offense.

She had grown close to Geoffrey Adall, a soldier and fantastic point-man for missions. Multiple times, they had held LZs against impossible odds while Rawley or the rest of the squad scrambled to recuperate missions, and had become a near perfect duo. Jess, standing at a slim five foot seven, was moderately muscled and well-toned. She wore her sandy-blonde hair in a ponytail at all times. In contrast, Geoffrey was a towering man, at six foot five, and bulked out heavily. He brought with him a terrifying aura on the battlefield, and easily inspired caution, if not fear, in the enemy when he came on their position.

Another squad mate was a clever, small girl, named Tess Jones. While slightly squirrely, she reminded Jess of Kori, back from her childhood. As a result, Jess had quickly bonded with her as well, and often would spend off-missions discussing tech with her, when possible. She was exceptionally dependable under fire, being quick-minded and adaptable.

They were now on a two week shore leave, back on Elysium. It was the first time in nearly eight years that Jess had stepped foot on the world. The Midway was at dry dock receiving retrofits and repairs in Devon; at the same space port. Getting off the ship had been emotional for Jess; Tess and Geoffrey had noticed and immediately surrounded her, trying to keep her mind off the past.

The past, however, seemed to demand focus. Tess, Geoffrey, and Jess had gone into Devon to enjoy the shore leave in a tradition manner; heavy drinking. However, the first bar they had entered had a familiar face in it. Walking into the Solar Corona, Jess's lower jaw shot for the floor. Right in front of her, at the bar, was Spencer.

Finding a table, Jess, Tess, and Geoffrey settled in. Jess offered to get the first round, and specifically found Spencer.

"I'd like three shots of Ryncol, and two brews. Oh, and add a dose of 'How the hell are you?' in that as well." Jess said, smiling.

Spencer seemed to look through her for a moment, and then it registered. "J...Jess? Wha... How the hell are you? Damn it has been a long time."

"First of all, drinks PLEASE. Second of all, I asked first." Jess replied, winking. It was so good to see him, and some part of her wanted to resurrect the old crush she had had on him.

"Alright, alright." Spencer began gathering the drinks, and continued, "Well, after... the space port thing... I did some soul searching. I realized how bad I had been to Kori, and it hurt all the more that I couldn't rectify it. After that, my grades started to falter, and my graduation was... less than ideal..." sighing, he placed the three shots on a platter, then walked over to the cooler. "Well, since then I've screwed my head back on, and I've been working a few jobs trying to get back on my feet. Doing some small-time R&D, a bit of inventing and, of course, tending bars." A smile rose up at the end, as he placed the two beers on the platter as well. "Your turn, Shepard."

Sighing dramatically, Jess began, "It is a tragic tale, of love lost and lessons learned. Suffice it to say, I too have done some soul searching." Jess flourished, laughing.

"Oh, really? Do tell." Spencer countered.

Seeming to hesitate, Jess broke the cycle. "Na, it was military life. Mom got put on the SSV Einstein, and it responded to Mindoir. After that, I was dumped on Arcturus to begin pre-enlistment studies, and enlisted on my eighteenth birthday. Now I have a commission, and serve on a squad." Then Jess added, "Maybe, if you keep in touch, I can go into better detail," followed by a slightly overdone wink.

"Oh, I see how it is," Spencer said, his voice now filled with mirth. "Well, it sounds an absolute bore, m'lady. But maybe I'll grant you the request of better communication, if only to sate such desires?" He added, a wondering look in his eyes.

Jess sighed. The part of her that wanted something from Spencer was living in a past, before Mindoir and Kori's death. She had to release it, or the feelings would only show to be hollow, unreal. Looking Spencer in the eyes, Jess smiled sadly. "Just as friends, Spencer. I'd be glad enough for that. Can you promise me an update every now and then?"

"Will do, Jess. You... take care." Spencer said, disappointment mixed with happiness playing on his face.

Returning to the table, Geoffrey and Tess started diving into the drinks with Jess.

* * *

It was the third day of shore leave, and Jess was lazily dozing in her room. The shore leave quarters were near the space port, and well furbished. Jess rarely just sat, and even more rarely relaxed. It felt nice to just waste a day. Of course, her Volkov - a gift from Jose Lynd for her commission, and the same one she had tampered with all those years ago - was nearby, and she was still tensed, ready for anything.

A knock broke the peace. Heading to the door in her civilians, Jess wondered who it could be. She had seen Geoffrey and Tess leave with a few other squad mates to go into town a while ago.

Opening the door, Jess was met with Geoffrey standing there. "Well hello, miss Shepard." He slurred, stepping inside.

"Oh, uhm, what's up Geoffrey?" she said, confused and slightly annoyed that he had just walked in.

"Well, I was out with the others, but it's gotten kind of... boring, just drinking and blowing money here." Geoffrey seemed to stagger further into the house.

Jess noted a severe note of alcohol in the air following him. "Geoffrey, you are drunk, bud. Lets get you back to your compartment, sleep it off."

"Oh no. No no no. I don't want to sleep. Lets just... lets talk, Jess." Geoffrey offered. His voice sounded off, as if he was trying to convince himself of something.

"Ok... what did you want to talk about?" Jess led. Something wasn't right.

"Well... who was that guy at the bar, the other night?"

"Oh... uhm, that was Spencer. We were friends, when I lived here." Jess said, smiling slightly.

"So, you two must have been..." Geoffrey left it hanging

"It's kind of embarrassing, but I actually did kind of have a crush on him. He was dating this bitch of an Asari, Riane. We kinda drifted apart after our friend, Kori, died..." Jess trailed off.

"It didn't seem that way at the bar." Geoffrey retorted. "Hell, you two were basically trading *hic* comm trails."

"Oh, come on Geoffrey. It was a young crush. Sure, I felt a resurgence, but anyone would have. It was a long time ago. We were just catching up." Jess felt confused. "No. No. I'm not even sure how we would make it work if I did, but no, I don't want to be with him. Why all the questions about this, Geoffrey? It is kind of... uncomfortable."

Geoffrey, however, had gotten up and was moving towards Jess now.

"Geoffrey, what are you... Come on, you're drunk. Just, leave some space and lets get you to your compartment, bud." Jess said, a smile withering on her face.

"No. Dammit Jess, I already said I don't want to sleep." Geoffrey had closed the distance, and Jess was cornered now. "I want.. I want.. Dammit, I want you, Jess."

He pressed in on her, trying to plant a kiss. His breath was heavy with ryncol and whiskey.

Jess turned away and tried to squirm past his arm. "Help. Anyone. HELP." her voice had reached a panicked level she did not think she was capable of.

Geoffrey grabbed her face and turned it to face him. Planting the kiss, he moved the other down to her chest, groping at her through the shirt.

Pushing at him, Jess brought a knee up, hitting him on the inner thigh, just low of the groin. As he crouched down and grunted, she slipped past and crossed the room as fast as she could. Jess knew she was not faster than Geoffrey, but he was drunk. All she had to do was get to help before he could get up.

As she reached the hall, Geoffrey lunged. Catching her foot, he pulled her footing out from under her. Jess fell, slamming her nose into the floor, and a crunch sounded out. Blood welled up in her nose, and she could taste it dripping through her sinuses into her mouth. "That hurt, Jess. That hurt a lot. But that's OK, I forgive you. Just. Stop. Struggling." A fist hit her in the back.

Crying out, Jess blindly kicked backwards again, catching Geoffrey in the chest. A slight crack sounded, and Jess looked back. She had kicked him square in the chest, near the sternum. He coughed, as the wind whooshed out of him.

Blood matted into Jess's bangs, obscuring her version. She cast about wildly, and saw her Volkov sitting next to a chair behind Geoffrey. Taking advantage of his recovery, Jess dove and rolled to the rifle. Scooping it up, she backed into the corner, training the sights on Geoffrey.

"Stay away, Adall. I know you are drunk, and that probably plays a lot into this. You're scaring me. Just, back off." Jess switched the safety off, and the capacitor hummed as it prep'd for a shot.

Groaning, Geoffrey stumbled to his feet and turned to face her. Seeing the gun put a flicker of fear into his eyes, but it was drowned out by desire. "You won't shoot me, Jess. We've been through too much." he slurred. He began to slowly walk towards her.

The rifle shook in her hands, as Jess argued with herself over whether to shoot him or not. Hesitation seized her, and when she finally decided to do it, the rifle was being forced down. Geoffrey had grabbed the barrel and was tipping it down. Panic seized Jess, and she squeezed the trigger. The shot grazed Geoffrey's right thigh and ended up in his left foot.

Geoffrey howled in pain and collapsed. Jess flipped the safety back on and spun the rifle around. "You son of a bitch. What the hell was that." She demanded.

"Dammit Jess, this is only going to make it worse." he threatened.

"Like hell it is," Jess said back, steel in her voice. Then, she brought the rifle butt down on his head. As he slumped over, unconscious, Jess leaned against the wall. Sliding to the floor, she began to cry hysterically, the tension and stress of what just happened washing over her. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rocked herself slightly.

* * *

Finally having recovered from the attack, Jess had run out to find help. Commander Rawley and Tess were heading back to their quarters when Jess stumbled out of her compartment, blood dried on her face from the break in her nose. Tears and blood had mixed and dripped down her shirt, making her look much worse than she was.

Tess was first, looking at Jess bewildered. "What the fuck happened to you, Shep?"

Jess began trying to explain, between gasps and frantic breathing "Geoffrey... came in and..." Shuddering, Jess couldn't come about saying it. It was as if she couldn't believe it had happened.

Seeing that Jess was shaken up, Rawley interjected. "Shepard. Breath for a moment, and just run through what happened. Where's Geoffrey? You were saying something about him."

After taking several deep breaths and getting herself under control, Jess detailed what Geoffrey had done; how he had shown up, drunk, at her door and forced himself in. How he had attempted to force himself on her, and then broken her nose and hit her. How she had panicked and shot him in the foot, before hitting him over the head with the sniper rifle. When she had finished, Rawley sucked in hard. Looking at his face, Jess saw not the normal, happy and stern look, but a very angered face.

"Well. This must have been fairly traumatic for you, Jessica. I want you to report to medical for a full run over, and then to the councilors for a psych evaluation. Don't you dare even think about arguing this. I will order it, if I must. Ms. Jones, please come with me. I will need your help bringing Mr. Adall to detention for a full detox, as well as a medical overview and then disciplinary assignment." Spinning on his heel, Rawley marched back to Jessica's compartment, Tess in tow.

* * *

Only two days were left for shore leave. Jess had just been waived as fit for duty the day before, but interest in the activities of shore leave had faded. She seemed more reserved, private even. Tess had taken her out for drinks earlier, but there was a noticeable reluctance in the act, and conversation had been stiff, to say the least.

The one thing Jess seemed herself at was at the shooting range. After she had left Tess at the cafe, Jess had bee-lined straight for the nearest one. Alliance military personnel on shore leave had free passes to the ranges, so she had signed in for a three hour session. Sitting down at the weapons bench, Jess brought her Volkov up. Disassembling the rifle, she cleaned out all the nooks and crannies. Satisfied, Jess rebuilt the gun and went to shoot targets.

An hour into the session, Commander Rawley appeared at the range as well. Silently, Rawley went to the weapons bench and reviewed his weapon, then came to the range next to Jess's. Getting into a firing position, Rawley squeezed out ten shots from his pistol. Then he brought the target back to him, and reviewed his own ability.

Looking at Jess, he silently offered his pistol to her, handle first. Jess got up, and took the weapon from him. Rawley nudged his head at the target he had just brought in, hanging in front of them. Jess moved into his range hesitantly, and said, "I'm ready, send it back."

Rawley, his face stock serious and voice flat, replied, "No. I want ten rounds in it. Put them wherever you feel appropriate. You have thirty seconds."

Jess looked back at the target. Swallowing slightly, she brought the pistol to bare with the target's head. As she started to squeeze the trigger, hesitation seized her.

"Twenty seconds, Shepard."

Jess dipped the gun to the right a bit, and shot the shoulder. Quickly, she rotated the gun further down and shot the elbow. Crossing the body, she shot the other elbow, and then rotated to the other shoulder. Re-siting, Jess shot both knees, and then both shins.

"Five seconds Shepard."

Raising the gun to the head, Jess took the ninth shot. Finally, she put the gun on level with the heart, and shot again.

"Time. Good." Rawley was taking the gun out of her hand now.

Jess shook. For some reason, what she had just done... Why had she hesitated? The easiest way to fulfill the request would have been to shoot ten rapid shots into the head, same as Rawley had done when he came into the range. Why not do that?

Jess had fallen into a nearby chair. Sitting next to her, Rawley put a bottle in front of her. "Drink, Shepard. I know I had you talk to doctors about what happened already, but that's just regulations. No one can fix what happened to you in a week, just talking at you. Oh, you might say you are fine, and try to reassure everyone, but you can't fool those of us who've seen good soldiers laid low by similar things."

Jess looked at the bottle, both hands on it. "I just want to forget... To move on... I never meant for it to happen, sir. I never wanted this."

"Shit Shepard, that's the issue. Why say that? You weren't the one that made this happen, that looked for this. No one could think that, not after all the evidence corroborated your story. **You did not cause this, Adall did.** It is that simple. I need you, Shepard. I need your talents, your drive, your leadership. The squad uses you as a rock, they see that you **never** give up, and they emulate it. Adall sensed it, and acted on it in a horrific fashion. Don't let his stupidity strip your best feature; to never give up."

"If I had just... not let him in, just taken him back to his place so he could rest up. I... He was my friend, Commander. I should have done more, been better." Jess nursed the bottle, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"No. What would have changed? He would have pinned you down in his place, and you would have been subjected to rape. There wouldn't have been a Volkov to save yourself with, a fighting chance to escape. He would have overpowered you, and used you. You can't blame yourself, Shepard. This wasn't your fault. Adall made his choice, and you survived. I need that back, the survivor. Not the mopey kid who shoots a rifle well."

"I... I'll think on it sir.. Thanks." Jess looked up, into Rawley's eyes, trying to look as sincere as possible.

"Alright, then. Now, lets see just how good Crackshot Casper really is - " Rawley was saying, laughing, when warning signs went off.

"Shit. What is it now." Rawley said, jumping to a console and punching his command codes in.

Jess quickly packed what she had brought along. Grabbing Rawley's things, she ran over to the console.

"Are you sure? But, that's impossible. Yes, we had intel that there was a gathering, but this many? They can hardly work on their own, separately. What could have convinced them to band together?" Rawley was saying, a spike of confusion clear in his voice.

"We don't know, but you need to evacuate whoever you can to the space port. The pirates are coming in from the East, so you should have time to set up a perimeter. Get to it, Commander. Help is on the way." the voice on the console replied, and the channel went dead.

"Commander, orders?" Jess said, snapping into place.

Rawley hissed slightly. "Shepard, I don't think you are fit for this. It's too soon. But we have no choice now. A Batarian pirate armada is incoming to Elysium. They will be touching down within the day, and we need to hold out for Alliance reinforcements. Navigator Pressley of the SSV Agincourt just informed me that the First and Fifth Fleets are incoming to send aid."

Jess nodded. "What do you need from me, sir? I won't fail you."

"Go. Get the others and suit up. Gather all civilians you can and move them to the space port. Any willing to bolster lines or help set up barricades are to report to the road just outside. Quartermaster Hartle will disperse jobs. We have four hours before the outer scouts make it here. I went you and Tess to tear down and block off side lanes, funnel traffic onto the main road and make it unreasonable to try and go around. We'll have to set traps and sniper nests up to thin ranks."

"Yes, sir." Jess said, the orders giving her purpose, and tearing her mind away from her personal issues.

"Shepard. Don't do anything stupid, you hear me? You'll have time enough to be a hero." Rawley said, a sliver of worry tainting his stern demeanor.

Nodding, Jess ran out to begin preparations.

* * *

It had been three hours since the alarm had been raised. Jess and Tess were finishing the seventh block of tear down. They had been planting explosives on supports of buildings, allowing the rubble to block off small alleys and side streets. Not wanting to make a grid pattern, wherein it was straight lines intersecting the main road, Tess had moved to curve the destruction towards the East. They had agreed on fourteen blocks of tear down on either side, and had radio'd back the plan. Rawley had also agreed, and ordered Hartle to send teams past that point to set razor wire and other roadblocks so as to dissuade passage in the next five blocks out.

Hartle apparently had a large amount of citizen volunteers, including many Asari and Turians. The Turians had been set digging trenches around the space port as a last line of defense, while the Asar were seeing to the closer tear down, using biotics to weaken supports and shift rubble to block the roads better. Human biotics were set about to help the Asari, while non-biotics were split into two groupings; one to aid the Turian's in building fortifications as a last line, and another to set up barricades and defensible positions along the main road.

Jess had just finished knocking down a small grocery at the fourteenth block point along their seventh line of tear down. Radioing Tess, Jess informed her of the situation.

"Tess, we're only four blocks from the civilian teams, and we have no intel on the enemy. How close are you to the fourteenth block, over there?"

"Just finished, Shepard. Rawley said he wanted the entire main road finished. We should move back and meet the civilian teams before we do anything else."

"I'm not asking, Tess. I'm going to go scout ahead, you keep up the tear down. Between you and the civilian teams, there should be no issue of completing the task."

"Jess, if you go out there, Rawley's going to have your head. Just finish tear down, and I'm sure he'll send you out."

"No, he won't. Look, I'll just head up the tower two blocks out from where we started and look around. It's a perfect nest, and is the tallest thing in a twenty block radius. The intel could be useful. I'll be right back."

Sighing, Tess resigned. "You better be back, Shepard. I'm not covering for you on this one, if Rawley asks whats up, I'm telling him straight up."

"Understood. See you when I get back, Tess."

With that, radio silence set in. Jess jogged back, dodging in and out of buildings as the rubble lead her south and west back to the road. Arriving, she began taking cover and slinking past rubble, checking her corners at every turn. Looking West down the road, Jess saw engineers setting up defense turrets and traps. Rawley had decided that he would have automated defenses for the first nine blocks, and then marine/civilian forces manning palisades for the final seven before the spaceport. Each palisade was set up at an angle that allowed the next to put down suppressive fire for retreating. It was all a delaying tactic; they knew they didn't have the forces or material to defend against so many seasoned fighters. Not to mention manpower. Seventy percent of the defensive forces were civilians. It was going to be a bloodbath once the real fighting started, and Jess did not look forward to it.

Reaching the tower, she jumped into the elevator and selected the eighty-sixth floor. _'__That should be a good enough view,'_ she thought to herself.

Arriving at the floor, Jess threw up cover near a window and scoped in with her Volkov. She began a slow scan of the surrounding region, checking the major arteries of the city. They were only trying to defend a quarter of Devon, having evacuated the vast majority behind the designated break zone. A team of engineers had leveled a two-block swath across the city to create the break, which was where the barricade ended heading eastwards. The single road left open was the supply road from the space port that led through the entire city.

Looking down the main road, Jess noticed small blurs of motion. It could be looters, or the pirates arriving early. Lowering the rifle, Jess unpacked a small sighting instrument used to spot and recon outside of normal sniping range. Setting up the tri-pod, Jess began scanning the main road again. It looked to be about fifty to sixty Batarians clearing space and searching homes. They were still a good ways off, at least seventy blocks Jess thought. She accessed her omni-tool and began recording movements and trends.

Suddenly, the elevator opened behind her. Grabbing her pistol, Jess rolled to cover and trained on the elevator.

Commander Rawley stepped out, along with five marines. "Shepard. Where the hell are you."

Jess rose. "Here, sir. Just doing a bit of scouting."

"Dammit Shepard, I gave you explicit orders. I need to know you are going to follow them." Rawley seemed angry.

"Sir," Jess stammered, "I was gathering intel. We need to know where the enemy is - "

"**I** decide what we need and don't need, Shepard. Dammit, I'm your commanding officer. Gather your gear, we're leaving. Now."

Jess straightened a bit, "With all due respect, sir, this intel is more important."

Rawley sighed. Motioning to the marines behind him, he turned to Jess. "You are relieved of commission, First Lieutenant, until such time as this incident can be reviewed, and a decision can be passed on whether it is still deserved. Give your weapons to these men and come quietly, and detention will be less... severe. Resist, and lethal force is authorized."

The marines moved towards her. Tensing, Jess momentarily felt resistance rise in her. _'No... What would mom and Jose think?'_ Jess thought to herself. Slipping the safety on, she slid the pistol to the marines, and walked towards Rawley. They gathered her sighting instruments and rifle, and returned to the elevator.

"Thank you, Jessica. You will stay in the spaceport with the non-volunteer civilians until this is over." Rawley said, as the elevator began its descent.

"Sir. There are large amounts of pirates out there. You need all the help you can get. Let me fight." Jess said, appalled at the idea of being stuck in the space port, letting others fight for her.

"I can't trust you or your decisions, Jessica. You are now a civilian, and I refuse your volunteering. You want me to respect you enough to let you serve? Then listen to me, here and now." Rawley stared straight ahead, worry for the coming engagement clear on his face.

"We're not trained for line defense. The Alliance doesn't fight that way, and we don't have the men or material for that. We need all the assets we can get, and we need a more mobile strategy!" Jess was practically shouting now, anger replacing her submissive attitude.

Rawley simply stood still, not offering an answer. Coming out of the elevator, an explosion rocked the tower. "They must be closing the distance. We need to hurry back to the perimeter." Rawley shouted.

The seven of them began to sprint to the break zone for cover. Stray shots came out, and one of the marines fell over, his chest torn apart by an incendiary round from a sniper.

"Leave him. We have to find cover." Rawley shouted.

Finally reaching the break zone, Jess shouted, "Give me my rifle, I can give us a bit of peace."

"Like hell I will, Shepard. You just stay down."

The fire fight was intense. The pirates were disorganized, but there were sixteen of them against Rawley and the four remaining marines. Jess huddled against the piece of cement she was behind, listening to shot ricochet off the other side.

Another marine took a sniper round to the face, a hole residing where his nose and left cheek had been. Cursing, Rawley let off a burst of fire at a nearby enemy standing out of cover. About seven pirates had gone down, their equipment unable to handle the concentrated ability of the marines. Unfortunately, sheer numbers were still winning. Of the remaining three marines, one was pinned down after having been shot in the leg, and the other two were attempting to lay down cover fire so Rawley could pull him out.

"Dammit, Rawley, give me a weapon. I can help!" Jess screamed.

Tearing about, Rawley cursed. "Fine. The moment this is over, you had better surrender, dammit. I don't like this a bit."

One of the marines slid her Volkov at her. Jess dove from cover to collect it and roll into a better position. Set up, she took aim. The Batarian sniper that had been wreaking havoc was sloppy, his pelvis was half exposed. With the squeeze of her trigger, the Batarian's hip exploded as the shredder round ripped through the joint. Falling over, his rifle fell and skidded away.

Searching for a new target, Jess found a Batarian trooper rushing Rawley's position. Scoping into him, time seemed to slow for a moment as reflexes took over. He was running haphazardly so as to avoid fire. Adjusting for this, Jess twitched right, then left slightly. Firing, the Batarian's skull exploded. His body took one more step, the neural pulse having been sent before being shot, and then toppled.

There were now only five pirates, the marines having taken another two down with well thrown grenades. Jess saw Rawley hesitate, then run out of cover towards the wounded man out in the field. Looking left, everything seemed clear. As her head turned right, however, Jess saw a Batarian aim out a shotgun. Screaming at Rawley, she began to sight down the rifle. Rawley turned to the Batarian, raising his pistol. Shooting once, the Batarian spun rightwards from the force. The shotgun fired, and the shots found marks in Rawley's left leg, stomach, and right arm.

Jess froze for a moment, as the battlefield consumed her. Searching for another target, she rapidly fired two shots at a trooper rushing at the wounded marine. Three left. Whipping to the left, another Batarian had dipped out of cover to check the field. The shot caught him in the left chest. Two. Turning back to the main road, a rocket launcher fired. Shooting at the trail of smoke, a scream echoed out. One. Ducking under cover, the rocket slammed into the other side, pushing Jess off balance. Looking up, the final trooper was running down the road back to the east. The final two marines chased him with assault rifle bursts, and the trooper fell over, writhing in pain as a shot caught him in the thigh.

Jess looked at the marine that had been shot in the leg. He was slumped over, blood loss having finally taken its toll, as well as a stray bullet taking him in the opposite shoulder. Motioning the marines to him, they began attempting to raise vital signatures.

Rushing to Rawley, Jess ripped open a pack of medi-gel. Putting pressure down on the leg first, she cleaned the wound and layered medi-gel into the hole, bandaging it as best she could. Moving to the arm, Jess did the same thing, tying off a bandage on it. The stomach, however, looked too serious for a simple field kit cleaning. Putting pressure on it, Jess shouted for a stretcher to be thrown together. The marines looked at each other momentarily, and then at the other marine. His vitals weren't showing at life sustaining rates. Shaking it off, they rushed over and began to organize a lift for the Commander.

"It's going to be fine, Rawley. I'm not letting you die, not here. We just have to get to the space port, that's all." Jess felt tears break through her calm, and she gasped a bit. Rawley grasped her arm and pulled her face to his.

"Don't you dare to lie to me, Lieutenant Commander. I need you focused. Organize the defense and get these people out safe, that's a damned order. If you don't follow this one, I'll haunt you. I swear it Shepard." Rawley gasped, blood touching the back of his mouth.

"Sir?" Jess asked, confused.

"Shut up. I know the potential of a good soldier when I see one, but you are an awful soldier, Shepard. Too much command in you. You were right, we did need that intel, but I wanted to play it safe, to follow orders. We need a better plan, and you can make it."

"You are the commanding officer, sir, and you're going to be fine," Jess said, lying half to soothe herself.

"I won't. I've been shot before, and normally it hurts. This doesn't hurt. I don't think I've ever felt more peaceful. Dammit Shepard, leave these two to carry my corpse back if you must, but get back to the lines. You need to organize. They can vouch for your reinstatement and field promotion." Rawley's face was contorted in concentration, his breath becoming shallow.

"Ye-Yes sir." Jess swallowed. Command. _'This was going to be one hell of a field test,'_ she thought.

* * *

Jess had made it back to the defense lines. Immediately, she had set about editing the battle plan. They now had a funnel, but there was no guarantee that the reinforcements were going to make it fast enough. The pirates were being bled out on the fourth and fifth blocks of automated defenses, having already cleared the first three. Jess had decided to use hit and run tactics to supplement the automated defenses. Placing three marines in a company of fifteen to twenty civilian volunteers, squads were threaded into the barricades. As the pirates pressed forward, squads would be signaled to dip in, inflict surprise casualties, and retreat quickly back into the tear down. Three squad were assigned each side of the tear down, and five squads sat in reserve on the fringes of each to cycle in when one got tired.

They had started at the second block of defenses. The north zone darted in, inflicted major casualties, and ducked out with only minor injuries incurred. Confused, the pirates had begun to attempt the climb into the barricades, and the other two squads had collapsed on the scouts. Blunted, the pirates formed a perimeter around the northern entrance and prepared to rush it. Then, the southern zone had appeared at their backs, and another score of pirates fell. Retreating back into the rubble, scouts again set out to track them and were collapsed on.

The pirates had then brought in mechs to sweep the barricades, so Jess had ordered to squads to fall back to the fourth block. Now, as the pirates began to set about destroying the automated defenses, Jess signaled the attack to begin. This time, both the north and south attacked at once, and a large amount of confusion cycled through the pirates. The retreat was signaled, and forces on both sides fell back into the rubble. Scouts followed, again, and a collapse was begun. This time, however, a third unit moved in from the west along the main road, split the pirates into two groups pinned against the barricades. The force on the main road were mostly marines and veterans that had volunteered.

The pirate forces broke and fell back, more casualties being filed as they were gunned down by the Alliance forces. Jess ordered a rebuild of the automated defenses on blocks three through five, and a sweep of the tear down for any stragglers and mechs.

_'It's working,'_ Jess thought to herself, ecstatically. Flushed with success, she headed out from the command center that had been established to take a squad of her own. There had to be a larger force nearby, that wasn't threatening enough to warrant the warning and promises from the Alliance brass that she had overheard Rawley receiving back at the shooting ranges.

A along the main road, all buildings five-stories or higher had been knocked down into the tear down for the outer twelve blocks. Jess was going to lead a sniper team into the buildings for support fire and recon. Helping them set up, Jess patched into the command center, issuing a few new orders. The tear down squads were to infiltrate into the break zone. She wanted all eight teams to mold into sets. They were to hold until ordered, and then both to break into the supply lines and cut off whatever was on the way. Looking down the road, a large path had been made in the rubble by the pirates. It looked like they were bringing vehicles...

Suddenly, a cannon fired. Looking south, Jess saw a column of smoke on the second block. "What is going on down there?" Jess shouted into her comm.

The return was filled with static. "We... fired on b... repur... mining vehic..."

Cursing slightly, Jess radioed Tess. "Heads up, spread the word that the pirates have vehicles coming down the main road. I want all units in cover and safe, NOW."

"Aye Aye, LtC," Tess said, a slight lilt in her voice at receiving commands from Jess.

Silently noting to herself that she'd have to get Tess back later, Jess began sighting down the road. Two vehicles led the pirate forces down the road. They were coming into the second block of defenses now. Jess braced herself for the impending explosion, anticipation spreading through her. The engineers had laced proximity mines and other defenses across the road, and the pirates vehicles were coming close to the first set. A screech of metal tore through the air as the first mine exploded, spinning the right-hand tank over. The left tank stopped and was just short of triggering its own mine, a few feet behind the other tank.

The pirates let out an audible groan as orders were shouted from the backlines. Jess took the momentary pause to try and spot out the numbers for the enemy. There was a sizable mob of pirates stretching back about sixteen blocks, and decently packed in. There was little organization in their ranks, and an obvious sense of distrust between the varying groups. If she could spark confusion in the ranks of the separate groups, the attack might fall apart.

"Alright, crackshots," Jess started, "I want all spotters on officer detail. Ignore picking up tallies, I want as many field promotions as possible in the enemy ranks. I need as much confusion as possible. Force promotions to be death warrants."

Pairing up with a spotter at random wasn't a problem for Jess. She was used to sighting for herself, but had often worked with different members of the squad as her spotter. She did enjoy working with Tess a bit more, admittedly, but it wasn't such an issue as to stop her from being able to shoot.

Falling into position, Jess turned to the spotter. "What's your name, soldier?"

"I'm Theresa Nathans, ma'am. Do you have any requests or particular habits I should know about?" the spotter said, a slight English accent peaking out.

Jess smiled slightly. "Alright miss Nathans, first things first: I am Jess, not 'ma'am'. Second, I want you to keep eyes on the farthest back lines for enemy snipers and officers. Just do what you do, and we'll be perfect."

Settling in, the first shots from the tower rang out.

* * *

The plan was working better than Jess could have hoped. The enemy had only made it four blocks in the past six hours, and a majority of their units were inside the break zone or closer now.

"Target on your eleven, ma'am." Nathans lilted. Jess's omni-tool uploaded new coordinates from Nathans. Setting up the shot rapidly, she scoped in on another enemy sniper. The shot threaded just left of his sight, hitting home through his left eye. It was her fourty-fourth kill. Ms. Nathans was a **very** accomplished spotter, it seemed.

"Dammit, Nathans, my name is **Jess****.** J E S S. And that was a damn fine set of spotting. I never would have seen that one." Jess said, praise soaking her voice openly.

"Thank you, ma' - Thank you, Jess. Do you need to pause? I have never seen a person shoot so accurately, you must be exhausted." Nathans replied, shifting slightly.

"Yeah, sure, report back in ten Nathans. We can keep up the count." Jess said, smiling at the gruesome joke slightly.

Nathans sat back, sighing a bit and turning to calibrate her omni-tool a bit. They had taken a break every forty-five minutes so Jess could organize and direct squads. For the most part, field commands were given by the officers closest to the action, but Jess was trying to keep tabs on the larger picture.

"Tess, how is the line holding at the front?" Jess asked. Two hours ago, the enemy had gotten advance units past the final two blocks of automated defenses, and a fire fight had set in at the first set of barricades.

"It's tight. The civilian units are spooked, and taking decent casualties. We've moved the sixth and seventh reserves for the line up, and rotated first to fourth back. The marines offered to stay, but we sent them back too. We need them fresh, and there to steady the civilians." Tess's voice sounded strained.

"Good. That sounds like the best call," Jess said, a flashback to Mindoir momentarily calling up to her. "Look, I want the engineers to set up automatic turrets behind the barricade, and then a slow retreat once they are up and running. Get to the second set and let the first palisade's units rest. Hopefully, reinforcements should be here soon."

"Aye aye, Shep." Tess replied, the smirk from before now absent in her voice.

"Good, I want that first barricade struck in fifteen minutes. Send a flare up when the units are in place at the second barricades."

Jess switched to the units hiding in the break zone. They had successfully evaded detection this long, and it was time to slam the spike of confusion through the pirates. They had cycled officers so often at this point that Jess doubted they could organize a real defense.

"Strike team north and south, how is it?" Jess chirped in.

"We're holding tight, LTC," the commanders replied. "The men are getting anxious though. Will we be moving soon?"

"Yes. The first barricade is about to be abandoned. When they are ready to turn at the second set, a flare will be shot up. I want your men ready to hammer in on both sides when that happens. Prep up, it'll be soon."

"Yes, ma'am." the commanders replied.

"What is it with everyone and this 'ma'am' crap." Jess fumed, cutting the channel.

Returning to her nesting location, Jess looked around. Despite the success, losses were mounting. They were outnumbered two to one at best, three to one being more likely. The enemy had been spotting for the snipers on their side as well, and the body count in the tower was mounting. Other towers were populated sparsely with Alliance snipers; Jess could only imagine what their losses looked like.

Nathans touched her shoulder. "Ma'am - Sorry, Jess, are you ready to continue shooting?"

Looking at Nathans, Jess tried to clear her head. Enough time to worry about this later, she had to do her part now. "Yeah, let's get started."

The next forty minutes seemed to pass by quickly. The enemy, having breached the automated defenses and the first barricade, were practically streaming down the road now. The fire fight at the second barricade sounded thick, when the flare snaked it's way up. A loud cry thundered across the field as the sixteen units in the break zone rushed into the gap, snapping the supply chain and sandwiching the pirates between Alliance forces.

Nathans noted a pirate ordering the disparate groups to hold. Scoping in, the would-be leader's neck exploded from the sniper round.

"Keep the loud ones quiet, people." Jess shouted out to the rest of the tower.

The next four who attempted to organize the pirates met similar fates, and a sudden lack of ambition spread among the ranks. Pirate groups started to separate and protect their own. Suddenly, a roar filled the air.

"What the hell could that be..." Jess said, looking up.

Alliance ships filled the sky. The fighters carried the insignia of the SSV Tesla. With the sight of Alliance vessels taking the air, the resolve left within the pirates broke fully. A full retreat was sounded, as the pirates rushed into the barricades to get out of the area.

With a triumphant sigh of relief, Jess folded her Volkov down. They had done it. Elysium was safe.

* * *

Jess had been ordered to the SSV Agincourt. As Commanding Officer of the ground forces, it was her duty to give a report in person, it appeared. She had selected her best Navy Blues, and dropped by the medical tents on her way to the shuttle. Commander was in critical condition, but still hanging in there. Jess had come in to see how he was doing, and had stopped off with the doctors to review his file.

Rawley was still awake, and called her over. "Shepard. Dammit, but that was brilliant. If we had followed my plan, we would be lucky to have held at the space port. Those hit and run squads were a fantastic call, dogging the enemy and causing confusion. I still don't know why, after you stopped, it had taken them so long to reach the barricades, though..." He left it hanging.

"Oh..." Jess said, blushing. "I had ordered the sniper teams to try and shut down the enemies chain of command as hard as possible. It seems to have caused a bit of confusion."

A nearby soldier laughed at this. "Shut down is putting it lightly, sir. As I remember it, she said she wanted 'As many field promotions as possible' in the enemy ranks. There aren't enough bars for the amount of sudden officers that were just gunned down."

Rawley chuckled slightly. "I knew you could... do it Shepard. And to think... I was going to remove you... from the fight. Worst damn... mistake I could have... made." His breath was shallow.

Jess winced. "Sir. You were removing me for a perfectly legitimate reason. I wasn't following orders. I'll make sure it is included in the report, as well as my surrender into military jurisdiction."

"Dammit Shepard. Yes, I was right, but on a different... subject. You **are** an **awful** soldier, but this... Your ability to command... It is outstanding. I have... no doubt you will eventually see an N7... invitation with initiative like that. It is only a matter of time... at this point. If you listen to just one command... listen to this... don't fall on a sword for me... Shepard... The Alliance needs talent like yours."

Looking conflicted, Jess marched out of the tent and over to the shuttle waiting to take her to the Agincourt.

* * *

**2678 - Torfan**

It had been two years since Elysium, two years of fighting the Batarians back into the holes they crawled out of. Jess had been praised for her ability to lead on Elysium, to take command in a difficult situation for the first time and succeed. True to form, she had confessed her insubordination to the admirals and offered to relinquish command to the officer of their choosing as soon as they were able to select a person.

Admiral Steven Hackett had spoken first, suggesting that Jess's drive was more of a resource than a hindrance. He was joined by nearly half of the board, who suggested that she be given a second promotion for the day to Commander, and the process for N7 training also be started. A more conservative wing of the board was led by Admiral Hadley of the First Fleet. They suggested Jess be subjected to military disciplinary actions as a result of her actions, but given leniency due to the results on Elysium; a mark in her records that would bar her from any advancement past Commander and seemingly null any potential career gains she could have garnered through 'exemplary services' on Elysium.

A middle ground was achieved, with Jess seeing an immediate move up into N6 training and being assigned to Major Kyles squad. Kyles was being tasked with hunting leads and removing strong points for Batarian operations so as to clear the Attican Traverse and allow a more complete hold by the Alliance to fall over the region.

Jess had been fast to merge with the squad, bonding well with Major Kyles as well as the other members. Tess Jones had been moved up with Jess. as well. After having served for nearly five years together, they had grown close. They had similar interests, held similar opinions, and wanted similar things. She enjoyed being around Tess more than anyone while under Rawley's command, and having Tess with her under Kyles felt natural. However, Tess soon informed Jess of there being more, at least for her, to their pairing than just friends. Jess had never thought of Tess this way, and it took her a few months to come around, but Tess had been patient.

After a particularly hard mission on Aratoht, in which nearly half the ground squad had failed to make it back before the Batarian's overwhelmed them, Jess had been huddled in her quarters, trying desperately to get her mind off the faces of the men she had left behind. Tess had entered the room, closing the door quietly behind her, and soothed Jess.

"Shhh. It'll be ok, Jessie. It's all going to be alright." Tess had crooned, cradling Jess's head.

Sobbing lightly into Tess's lap, Jess said, "They just weren't fast enough. I couldn't... their eyes were looking... and I couldn't get them... I watched them get pinned against the wall and shot. I couldn't stop it. Oh god, I couldn't..."

That night, Tess had slept in Jess's bed, holding her tight and soothing her when she would wake suddenly in fright. Jess had meekly accepted the comfort, and from there, had grown into a relationship with Tess. Now they were inseparable, a common pairing on missions. They had taken things slowly, consoling each other after particularly bad or gruesome missions.

Today, they were being sent down with about twenty other members of the squad to wipe out a large stronghold on Torfan. This was said to be the final push on the Batarians, and a large Alliance force had been sent. There were six separate bases on Torfan that seemed to be the origin of many command signals. Major Kyles was in charge of coordinating the forces and guaranteeing the utter destruction of the Batarian forces. The Batarians had dug in hard, and the fighting was going to be difficult. Jess had been set as team lead on the ground.

The position Jess was assaulting had about sixty Batarians inside. Outnumbered about three to one, Jess was expected to clear the trenches surrounding the bunker and set up a zone of control. Once secure, Jess had to bust the bunker and clear out.

After having gone over maps and intel, Jess had decided to land west of the position and move northeast. At this point, the trenches were the least nested and would provide a much weaker obstacle. Once inside the trenches, they could clear out the rest of the perimeter and push on the building. Numbers suggested that about fifteen of the enemy were inside manning the bunker. This would make the main push much easier.

Once in position, Tess had a system to set on the inside of the nearest trench walls that would penetrate the ground and set off large charges directly under the bunker, destroying it. While not ideal, Jess agreed it would be a good back up plan. The main plan still involving getting inside and crushing any resistance.

Jess set down the datapad. The plan was set, they only had to execute. Landing was to start in six hours. Leaning back on her bed, Jess sighed. "This had better be simple," she muttered to herself.

The door slid open, and Tess slipped in. "Hey, Casper," Tess said, resurrecting the old name Jess had under Rawley.

Smiling, Jess reached her arms out to Tess, who settled in her lap. "Hey Tess," Jess's voice sighed.

"How are you holding up, babe?" Tess asked, petting Jess's hair. Jess shivered; she always liked her hair being stroked. The possessiveness struck her, made her feel wanted.

"I've just been thinking..." her breath caught as Tess leaned down to breath on the nape of her neck. Swallowing slightly, Jess continued, "The plan should hold, but... I'm just worried. After Aratoht... I want to keep variables down; and casualties." She twisted to look Tess in the eyes, conveying her meaning more directly.

"Shhh. I'll be fine, Jessie. I'm more worried about you," she said playfully, slipping off of Jess's lap and behind her on the bed. "You feel so... stressed. Like a kitten bound up for a leap. Let me... help you." Tess was now breathing in her ear.

Jess bit her bottom lip as Tess's hands moved onto her shoulders, kneading into the skin. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't let Tess past her defenses yet, attempting to move slowly in their relationship. But Tess had been bringing it up subtly, with slightly more aggressive cues in their times alone over the past few months. Moaning slightly, Jess felt the crack in her walls form, and Tess eagerly began to hammer at it.

"Have you ever..." Tess asked, her right hand now migrating to the front of Jess's shirt as she continued to massage her back.

"N-No.." gasped Jess, as Tess brushed the rising nipple through the shirt. Her casual clothes had consisted of a white t-shirt and jeans, as she had not gotten around to gearing up for the mission.

"Well..." Tess said, leaning forward slightly to put her lips near Jess's ear, "Let me lead, then. It'll be just fine." Her left hand slipped to the small of Jess's back now, palming at the bend. Jess leaned back into Tess, who eagerly kissed the swooning girl.

"First, that shirt is in the way." Tess said, leaning over Jess, who was now lying on her knees. Tess got the bottom of the shirt and pulled it up over Jess's head. Exploration of Jess's body resumed as Tess placed her hands on the trembling girl's shoulders and began to work her way down. "This bra may prove to be an issue as well..." Tess said, pushing her fingers under the black sports bra to feel the flesh underneath. Tess found the nipples quickly and began to roll them, eliciting a whimper from Jess, who reached up to grab Tess's arms.

"Hey, that reminds me, your hands aren't doing anything," Tess said teasingly. Taking Jess's right hand, Tess put it on her own breast. "There, now you can hold onto something. Why don't you start playing with yourself a bit in the meantime, I'll watch." Tess looked down, winking slyly. Jess froze slightly. Sure, she had pleasured herself before, but never in front of anyone. Tess saw the hesitation and sighed a bit, grabbing Jess's hand and directing it to her own area. "Hurry up now, we don't have all day. Still a few Batarians to shoot." Tess laughed, rolling Jess's nipples a bit harder now.

Jess undid her jeans and slipped her fingers past the black panties, searching for her nub for a moment. Once she had it, she began to roll it softly, moaning slightly. Her other hand began to clench involuntarily when she remember that she still had a hold of Tess. Unable to look at Tess, she began to blindly grab and knead as she could, Tess's shirt still covering the soft lump. Tess let out an awkward breath, and backed up slightly, letting Jess continue to delve into herself. Tess took her shirt and bra off, then picked Jess's off as well. Returning Jess's hand to her chest, Tess leaned into Jess's chest to continue her work.

"Good work, but I think you can do more, pet. Why don't you stop just playing, and get to work." Tess teased. Jess let the clit go and moved down the folds, inserting a finger while her palm kept rocking the hardening nub. Tess placed her mouth on Jess's nipple, her hand flicking the other one. Looking down Jess's chest, Tess began to suck and flick the nipple with her tongue. Jess gasped, a second finger slipping into herself as her pace increased. She felt close, as her hand palmed Tess's breast ineffectually. Tess suddenly broke off from Jess's chest and grabbed her arms.

"I was... so close..." Jess panted, looking at Tess confused.

"Yeah, but I'm nowhere near, yet. Besides, it's no fun alone," Tess's eyes twinkled, as she slipped off the bed. Jess's hands rested at her side as she propped herself up on her shoulders, her breathing still ragged.

Tess placed a hand on the inside of Jess's thigh, while the other darted up to finding her clit hard and twitching. "Oh... You really were close, weren't you? Poor dear. Let me remedy that for you..." Tess said teasingly, her uncommitted hand slipping down on herself. Leaning in, Tess parted the folds to let herself in. Her tongue darted into the fray, taking its first taste. "Mmmmm. You taste as good as you shoot, babe." Tess moaned into Jess. Jess only blushed, her heart having jumped at the contact and her throat clenching. Tess buried her face into Jess, her tongue darting in and out, playing with the folds and entrance. Tess's hand returned back to Jess's clit, flicking it back and forth. Her other hand dug into herself, palming her own clit while she worked on her own spot.

Jess moaned loudly, the feeling of release beginning to build. Her hips rose in response to the attack and pressed into Tess's face hard. Tess looked up, seeing Jess's back arch in approval. Smiling, Tess pressed forward, teasing out whimpers of pleasure as she hunted for sweet spots in Jess.

Tess had begun to pull her tongue among the upper left wall, eliciting a heavy gasp as Jess's hand darted to Tess's hair. Tess went back and stroked the same spot, the clenching coming on tighter. Jess panted, whimpering loudly now. "Please Tess... just a... there... Oh god..." Tess went in for a third stroke, and Jess arched into her, her other hand shooting to Tess's head instinctively. As climax rocked Jess's body, Tess sped her strokes in her own folds, and the throws of climax showed on her face. Sighing into Jess at her own release teased a heavy aftershock to rock Jess, her juices coating Tess's chin.

"Well, that seems to have been successful. You're a bit sensitive, Jessie." Tess said, laughter lacing her words.

"I... that was amazing..." Jess sighed, falling backward.

"I'm sure it was. Maybe we can spend more time on this... topic, after the mission? I haven't quite finished with you." Tess said, a false pout crossing her face. Jess could only nod enthusiastically, the feeling of release washing over her. Holding her arms to Tess, they laid back into the bed, kissing and cuddling after their intimate moment.

* * *

Jess and Tess had prep'd for the mission. Sneaking a hand into Tess's, Jess walked to the shuttle. "I want you to be extra careful, Tess. If you want any more, you gotta come back alive and well." Jess slipped a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry, babe. I'm not going anywhere. You just better be ready for a long night. I have toys that aren't meant for battle." Tess said, her laughter increasing as Jess blushed a deep crimson. Pinching Jess's backside, Tess moved on ahead to make sure the charges were loaded safely.

Major Kyles walked over, singling Jess out. "Lieutenant Commander, is your squad prepared and ready to ship out?"

"Yes sir. We will clear that bunker, Major, no worries about that." Jess said, snapping to attention.

"Good, I'll be waiting for the news." Kyles walked away, looking for the other commanding officers.

Breathing a sigh of relief at having not been berated for the display of affection, Jess loaded onto the shuttle to begin the descent.

* * *

The Batarians seemed to be unprepared. There had been no air defense interference, allowing for an easy landing. Now, Jess was commanding twenty men into a breach on the west side of the compound, and the foot hold in the trenches had been established. Jess looked over the reports. It looked like there was heavier resistance to the north, so she ordered Tess and about thirteen of the marines up that direction to start clearing the area of resistance.

Turning south, Jess left a detail of four marines to hold the breach, while she and the remaining three began scouting to disrupt any attempts in the southern portions of the trenches.

* * *

There had been almost no resistance in the south, and now Jess was starting to turn north. Both teams had been planting Tess's charges in the walls of the trench since starting at the breach, just as a precaution. Planting the third to last charge on the southern side, Jess accessed her comm to check on Tess's progress.

"How is it up there, Jones?" Jess said, the command in her voice drowning out the desire and worry she harbored.

"All is good on the northern front, ma'am," Tess replied. Jess could only imagine the smirk on Tess's face; she knew Jess hated being called that. "I almost want to say too easy. We've encountered some minor resistance, but for the most part they have just been falling back as quickly as we show. We've killed seven enemies on our way around, and no injuries on our side. It's like they've - "

"Jones? It's like they've what?" Jess waited. Looking at the stream, she realized it had been jammed. "Dammit, Tess..." Jess whispered under her breath, her heart racing slightly.

Turning to the three marines, Jess started ordering commands. "Alright, comms are being jammed. Team north reported little resistance, but it does not mesh with the intel we've gotten. Now that they've begun jamming our comms, expect heavier resistance."

Moving forward, the trench did another corner turn to begin it's march northward and connect around the entire bunker. Jess ordered one marine forward as point. He quickly ducked out and dove for cover, and began scanning the area. A few shots were thrown at the cover he had taken, suggesting resistance in the trench ahead. Jess grimaced. Something was not right.

* * *

Jess began a quick run forward. They had closed half the distance to the mid point of the trench on the east side. One of the men under her command had taken a grenade fragment through the face about twenty yards back, dying almost immediately. The other two were getting exhausted. They had fought their way through about thirteen Batarians, nine of which had died. Resistance was picking up pretty heavily.

Jess sunk her second to last charge along the wall. Hopefully, Tess's team was doing better. Attempting to hail them again, Jess was met with static. She had to find that jamming signal.

Moving ahead, the trench took a turn to the east suddenly. Leading the turn, Jess was met with a fore of twenty Batarians shooting the opposite direction. _'Well, at least I know where she is, now,'_ Jess thought to herself. Waving the other two marines over, they began to get into position for an attack on the rear.

Taking aim, Jess scanned the field. Finding a Batarian sniper positioned on top of the trench, Jess let her position known, the shot ringing out and ripping through the sniper's rib cage. Sweeping her barrel, she chose a Batarian wearing a fuel tank, presumably for a flame thrower. Shooting the tank, liquid fire erupted in the enemy ranks, bringing down another three targets around him in fire.

Confusion broke out among the Batarians, as a single man tried to keep the discipline. Jess sighted in and shot him through the eyes, leaving the enemy without orders temporarily. Ten of the enemy jumped out and rushed at the inner trench wall, pounding on it. _'What the hell is going on...'_ Jess thought.

Suddenly, the wall fell away, and a mining vehicle rolled out, killing the fleeing Batarians unconditionally. It looked to have been retrofitted with a cannon, similar to the ones on Elysium. Suddenly, the barrel trained to the north, and the shot shook the trenches. Time seemed to slow, as Jess was gripped in terror._ 'Tess was over there. What if...'_ screamed through her mind, but her face betrayed nothing. Ignoring the immediate grief, Jess grabbed a grenade out of her belt. Coating it with an adhesive, she rushed the vehicle, jumping onto the treads and placing the sticky grenade onto the hatch.

Jumping off to the north, Jess rolled for cover. Barely making it behind a chunk of concrete that had fallen from the bunker after the first blast, Jess hunkered down. The explosion ripped the hatch open, creating a way into the vehicle. Three marines rushed in and put down the drivers. A cheer broke out. The marines from the northern team looked haggard and worn, their faces grim. Jess counted, trying to make an estimate of casualties. Four men remained standing of the thirteen she had sent. That meant ten dead total. This was not the success she had hoped for. casting about, Jess could not see Tess anywhere. "Where is Tess Jones?" Jess demanded.

"Over here, you crazy bitch." Tess yelled, laughter and worry lacing her face. "What the hell was that? Did you suddenly have the urge to die?" Tess flung her arms around Jess, squeezing her tight.

"I'm sorry," Jess whispered into Tess's ear, "I was worried I'd lost you."

"Well, you didn't. Now, are the charges set, and what plan are we following?" Tess asked, business creeping back into her voice.

"I just have one more to place, you?" Jess asked, the embrace falling.

"All set here, LTC. Whats the plan?"

"What were casualties like on your side?" Jess asked first, trying to decided. Her two remaining marines were spent, but the four at the breach should be fresh...

"Not good... nine died, three from that damn tank thing. Another two too wounded to do anything. At best, only myself and a single marine would be ready to go. The last is too exhausted, he saved a few lives back there pulling men out of the line of fire." Tess replied, motioning at the marine weeping openly while sitting on the floor of the trench, his hands coated in fresh blood.

"Alright. We've found the entrance. Lets get the wounded to the breach and gather those who can fight still. I'd still prefer not to make a crater out of the place." Jess said.

"Fine, I need to go back any ways so I can prime the trigger mechanism," Tess said.

"Alright, I'll keep my men and the man you think can still fight. Send the four I left back over when you arrive, and start setting up. I want you ready to blow this place if we need to fall back." Jess said.

Tess nodded, and began to move out.

* * *

They had found the jamming sequence originating from a console near the opening to the bunker. It had taken Jess a moment to disable the signal, but after it was down the normal chatter had set in. Tess kept her up-to-date on any new developments in the trenches, as well as counts of casualties on both sides. Reports from the other bunkers were sounding similarly grim, with the Batarians fighting for every inch of space.

The four marines had arrived at the entrance to the bunker, leaving Jess with a total of seven marines. Tess had the last three marines who were unable to continue the fight at the breach, holding for her word. Sighing heavily, Jess looked over the seven remaining soldiers. How many of them would die, she wondered. They had counted bodies in the trenches; only thirty-three of the forty-five Batarians had been accounted for. That left a force of twelve unaccounted for, and Jess didn't like it.

"Tess, any sign of those missing Batarians?" Jess shot out on the comm, knowing the answer already.

"No, Shepard. Like I said the last time, they seem to have just up and ran. Maybe they gave up?" Tess said, a false hope crossing the units.

"Right, our bunker happens to be special," Jess said a bit more meanly then she had meant to. "Look, just.. keep your eyes open, this feels like a trap."

The comm went silent as Jess ended the link. Turning to the door, she motioned her marines to begin cutting through the wall. _'This might take a bit longer than expected...'_ Jess thought to herself, watching the slow process begin.

As the cuts progressed, Tess linked back in. "Shepard, the mechanism is ready. Let's just pull the trigger and get out of here. I agree with your earlier sentiments, this feels like a trap."

Jess sighed. She had gone over this choice now multiple times in her head. To destroy the whole place felt as if it invalidated the sacrifice made to take out the bunker. "No, Tess. The intel we could get from the bunker intact is too useful. We have to try." Jess said, a certain stubbornness creeping into her.

"I never thought I'd see the day that you would repeat someone else's mistake, Jess," Tess said quietly. "Rawley wanted to stick by the book regardless of the situation as well, remember? We needed you to break the mold, adapt to the circumstances. We've already lost half our men; the circumstances don't afford us the luxury of blindly following the plan anymore. Please, just blow this place sky-high and lets get out of here." Pleading was in her voice now.

"Tess... I... I can't invalidate these sacrifices by gaining nothing..." Jess said. Despite saying this, her own premonitions of the situation agreed with Tess.

"Dammit Shepard... You owe them victory, not intel. Let go of the hope for more and take what you can, dammit." Tess said, the stress obvious over the comm.

"I... Look, we're almost through. If it seems unreasonable or improbable, we'll immediately blow the charges, alright? Just like I promised back on the ship, ok?" Jess said, an ironic resignation in her voice at having stuck to her own decision.

"Fine. You and I are going to have a chat back on the ship though, Shepard..." Tess said, steel lining her words.

Just then the door fell through. Jess led the seven marines into the hanger and began to search for a systems console. Finding a doorway on the far right, she motioned two marines to take cover and hold the entrance to the hanger, while she and the other five marines went further in. Heading through the door, Jess took point, diving for cover. A sudden fire fight erupted as a group of Batarians pinned them down. The five marines moved into cover, as Jess scanned the battlefield. There were thirteen Batarians in the room. Taking her first shot, she missed her mark by a hair. The shot went off into the room, and accidentally hit a fuel tank.

The resulting fireball whipped through the room, disabling shields on the marines and wiping out seven of the Batarians. Smiling at her accidental success, Jess pressed into the room further, crushing the remaining five Batarians with her squad. Relatively few injuries had resulted, mostly sight issues from the fireball. Taking a moment to recuperate, Jess tried to hail Tess.

"Tess, how are things up there? We just wiped out a majority of the forces scans had shown inside. So far, the bunker invasion seems to be a success." Jess said, reporting with new excitement.

"Shepard... Batarians pouring thr... breach, we ca... More than the missing tw... Batarian reinforcements hav... Need help." Tess replied, her link breaking in and out.

Jess stiffened. The missing twelve must have ran for help. Without knowing the totals, Jess couldn't make any judgments. Turning to her men, Jess broke the news. "The Batarians have struck the breach in force. We need to make an immediate rescue mission. We'll head back through the southern branch of the trench and clear a temporary path to Ms Jones and the survivors. Let's move."

* * *

It had taken much less time to cross the trench knowing it was empty than it had the first time. Jess's team was now nearing the breach from the southern entrance. Up ahead, she heard a fire fight breaking in and out. Rushing up, Jess saw the scene as it stood. Tess had set up a miniature automated defense around a small recess in the inner wall of the trench. The three marines Tess had kept with her were lying on stretchers or sitting near the cover to provide some semblance of help.

The turrets had kept the Batarians pinned at the opening of the breach, but they were getting more confident. Jess counted a total of thirty enemies in the opening or just outside of it. This was going to be extremely difficult. Motioning at her marines, a set of cover fire was placed at the breach, while Jess moved into the alcove.

Coming to a halt, Jess looked at Tess, her questions already on her face. "Yes, Shepard, we're ok. We heard the Batarians from a distance and set up some defensive positions. There were about forty-five, but they had to cut through quite a few traps so far. I had a decent line built at the breach that took them a bit to break through." Tess said, worry clear on her face.

"Are the charges still ready?" Jess asked.

"Oh, now we're going to go through with it?" Tess said angrily. "Why the hell not earlier again?"

Jess winced. If they had just blown the place into a crater, then they would have been out of the area easily before this new force had arrived. "It was working... I hadn't anticipated such a reinforcement."

"Well, now the plan is not going to work. What do we do?" Tess said, expecting a plan.

Jess sighed. "It won't be easy..." she looked at the three wounded marines. "We may have to... make cuts where we have to..."

Tess's head turned to the three men she had been helping. "No. I... How could you even... There has to be another way, Shepard."

Jess shook her head. "I can't see it. How can we out run the Batarians while carrying these three? I just don't see it."

"Run? What do you mean, run?" Tess asked incredulously.

"We have to drag them through the trenches. We can get out of them at the opposite side, and set off the charges. Then, we can take the survivors back to the LZ. The mission will be successful, and the new threat will be dealt with. It's the best option." Jess's eyes pleaded for Tess to understand.

Tess shook her head. "You should have listened to me, Jess. You should have trusted me. Now I have to leave three good men behind to die for your stubbornness. This isn't what the girl I love would have done..."

Jess felt tears bridge, but choked it back. "Come on, we gotta get moving. I'll tell the men, you head to the other unit."

Tess gave her a cold look, and left silently. Turning to the three wounded men, Jess set about giving them their final orders.

* * *

They had reached the door into the bunker again. Jess sent Tess and the seven marines up the ramp and out of the trenches, taking up the rear. There were nearly sixty Batarians now filing through the trenches. Grimacing, Jess accessed the charge codes on her omni-tool and set them off. The first explosions began near the breach, and worked their way towards the bunker door. Diving down the hill and away from the trench, Jess and the remaining men from her unit huddled down while the bunker was torn apart and sunk into the ground.

Looking at the remnants of her squad, she felt the loss of the thirteen men. Tess gave her a scowl, her anger still playing over her face. Patching into the shuttle's comm, Jess requested a pick-up.

* * *

Jess had just finished her report. The admiral board, so impressed by her ability to salvage the situation, had unanimously agreed to a commission upgrade from Lieutenant Commander to Commander. Further, Jess had been extended an N7 invitation. Thanking the board, Jess had left to her compartment. She did not feel deserving of the praise and awards they had just layered on her. In fact, she felt she should be stripped of command. Her inability to accept the inevitable had cost her another three lives. Those men... she had asked their names: Thomas Dodison, Henry Statkin, and Edward Undaga. They had agreed easily, willing to be left behind, accepting the situation. She had left them to die because they were a liability. It ate at her, even now, that they had to die for her stubbornness.

Tess had been silent the entire trip back to the ship. Further, she didn't drop by Jess's room to collect on the promise that had been made before hand. Sighing, Jess decided it was her turn to knock on the door. Heading to Tess's room, she knocked on the door, waiting. Tess's voice answered, "Go away, Shepard. I... I need to think..."

"Tess, please... I just... Let's talk, please?" Jess pleaded. The door slid open, and Tess's back greeted her as she headed back to her bed.

"What do you want, _Commander_. Come to advance your rank by sacrificing me as well?" Tess shot, venom thick in her words.

"Tess..." Jess croaked, tears coming unhindered. "If I could have... You know me, you know I wouldn't make that choice unless we had no other alternative..."

"**We had an alternative**" Tess said angrily, "You just didn't want to accept it and lose your precious data."

"I wanted to have something to justify the deaths... I just wanted that... I know I was wrong. Can't you forgive that?" Jess said, her voice cracking with emotion.

"I can forgive, Jess... But... I can't accept the decisions... I can't trust you like I thought I could... You were my rock, my friend, the one person I thought would never make a choice like that, who would always have a way to save as many lives as possible. That was cold, calculating, ruthless. You aren't... who I thought you were..." Tess's voice was laced with betrayal.

"Tess..." Jess moaned, "Please... Just... Let me prove that I can be that for you..."

"Just... leave Shepard. I hope life gives you happiness, and that you one day find someone who can accept what you are, but... it isn't me..." Tess said, a note of finality in her.

Tears streamed openly as Jess hugged Tess one last time while Tess sat there, not reciprocating the motion. As she walked out, Jess felt her world crash down around her. Reaching her room, Jess broke down, knowing no one would be coming to console her.


	7. Ch6: Memories - Alea Iacta Est

**A/N:** Here we complete the memory sequence. A heavy bit of AU on the end choices from ME3.

* * *

**2686 - Thessia: Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities**

Liara broke away from the meld again. Breathing heavily, she turned to the mirror to admire her dirty-blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, only to be met by an Asari's image; her eyes still deep black pools. Looking about, she saw Aethyta sitting in the chair, worry on her face. Turning about the room, she saw Jessica on the bed still, her hair not up in it's tradition ponytail. Her hand reached down to caress the locks, and her own crests tingled at the contact, as if she were petting herself.

"Are you alright Liara?" she heard from behind her. Turning, Aethyta was standing now, moving at her. "Liara, have you finished the commingling? What is happening, Little Wing."

Liara shook her head, trying to clear it. Who was she? Looking at Jess, pain and longing stabbed into her mind, as if she could readily call up the memories she had seen as if they were her own. And yet... She was unable to see past that, to remember Jessica's life beyond Torfan, beyond the pain of loss and glory of advancement. "No, father... I... She... The most recent memory was... It... I wanted to enter the event, to hold her tight, to comfort her. I wanted to help her fix any mistakes, or at the least tell her that I could accept them..." Liara's voice seemed distant and split, as if two people were saying the same thing from far away.

"Liara... You must finish... Please, Little Wing, return to the meld." Liara heard Aethyta say, a bit of regret in her voice.

"I... The next memories are coming more quickly, are more recent. They feel almost accelerated, as if focused on the final act she took. I feel the aftershocks of her consciousness. I am... afraid of what I'll find as I finish." Liara admitted, closing back to Jessica's body.

"You cannot let that fear stop you. Give her a chance, and try to understand and accept her choices, Liara. It is the only way, now." Aethyta said, but her voice was growing faint.

"I will..." Liara said, as her hair draped her face and the water cascaded down the front of her body. _'Cold water again...'_ she sighed.

* * *

**2683 - Therum**

Jessica rushed up the ramp, charging an overload at the colossus. The Geth had air-dropped an ambush on top of their position about forty-five minutes ago. Wrex and Tali had dealt with the smaller ones, but were pinned down behind some crates where the fighting had started. Jessica had been able to break away and flank, but was now cut off. Pulling herself behind the railing, a plasma bolt whistled past and slammed into the door behind her.

"Wrex, I'm going to need some help, here!" Jessica shouted.

"Just a minute, Shepard, I need to catch my breath. Don't go finishing all the fun without me, though." Wrex laughed back at her.

Cursing, Jessica turned her attention to Tali. "Tali, I need you to try and sabotage that main cannon. I'll keep the shields down."

"Will do, Shepard. Just need a bit of time..." Tali said, bringing her omni-tool out to begin the attempt.

Jessica looked around the corner. The colossus was trained on her position still, and it's secondary weapons opened fire upon sighting her. She quickly ducked back around, a shot deflecting off her kinetic barriers. The new armor that the council had requisitioned her upon achieving Spectre status was holding up really well. Pulling out her new HMWP Pistol, Jessica poked out around the corner again and took a shot. The Colossus's shields were unable to regenerate under fire, and her overload seemed to have stripped them for a moment. Jessica just needed to keep them down a bit longer.

The Colossus's main gun began revving. Taking a few more shots, Jessica ducked back behind the railing. The plasma bolt rocked into the other side, melting the metal down. The portion of walkway Jessica was on began to shift slightly, it's supports having taken some of the back blast. Diving to the next section, Jessica took another pot shot at the Colossus to keep it's shields down. "How much longer, Tali?" she shouted out, as Wrex started a charge at the massive contraption.

"Just... a few more... There, it's ready to fire, Shepard." Tali said, waiting for the order.

"DO IT, NOW!" Jessica screamed, exasperated that it had to be ordered. Humans, she had learned, were a rare bunch when it came to initiative on the battlefield. The Colossus's main gun was revving again. It had targeted the supports under Jessica's position, in an attempt to collapse the structure. Jessica cast about for a way out of the situation, but couldn't find another portion to dive on. Tali needed to hurry up. Looking over, Wrex was clearing a small path, with Tali following close behind, getting in range to deliver the crippling systems attack.

Jessica took a few more shots, watching as the main gun fired. Tucking into the railing, she got ready for the fall. Below, she heard Tali shout with success as the hail of fire dropped from the Colossus. Then, a crunch of metal shrieked through the air, as the supports took the full brunt of the blast, and the walkway began to tear away from the structure. Falling with the platform, Jessica jumped off halfway to the ground and dove at the disabled construct. Landing on one of it's legs, she brought her pistol up to a soft spot under the carriage and fired three shots before jumping to the ground and rolling into the impact towards the backside.

Wrex had reached a charging distance from the Colossus, the biotic energy crackling around him. As he charged at the front legs, Jessica pulled out an inferno grenade, throwing it into the crook underneath the head plates. Wrex crunched into the leg as the grenade fell into the opening, jostling it further into the Colossus. The Colossus fell forward, and the grenade exploded. The head hinged outward, hanging to the rest of the construct by scraps of the front plates. Collapsing, the Colossus's main gun came back online, revving slightly before falling silent.

Panting, Jessica look up to make sure Wrex and Tali were safe. "Everyone ok?" she asked.

"Please, I've fought pyjack's with more in them than that." Wrex said, laughing.

Tali was less assertive. "I'd appreciate if we could avoid having to do that again, Shepard." she noted, slightly off-handed.

"Right, I fall off the platform fifty feet up, and you had it rough." Jessica replied, laughter lacing her words now as well. "Let's head inside; this Dr. T'Soni had better be worth the time."

Regrouping, they headed up the platform and into the facility.

* * *

There had been a few geth inside the door, and some drones a bit further in, but Jessica, Wrex, and Tali had made short work of them. They were heading down a second elevator shaft now, deeper into the ruins. The ruins seemed to go on forever into the depths. Looking down, Jessica could not make out a new set of walkways. _'Where could this Asari be?'_ Jessica wondered.

Suddenly, Jessica was vaulted forward as the elevator began grinding on the rails. As it came to a stop, Jessica jumped off onto a crushed walkway. Looking around, she saw an opening in the wall blocked by a blue field. Walking around the rubble, an Asari became visible behind the barrier, suspended by some sort of energy.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" the trapped girl shouted. "I need help, please."

Jessica looked at the field, wondering what could have happened. "I'm Commander Shepard, and I'm here to find Dr. Liara T'Soni. Is she nearby?"

"That would be me, Commander. I put the barriers up to keep the geth out, but I triggered something I shouldn't have and got trapped." Dr. T'Soni said.

Wrex and Tali had begun searching a bit deeper into the cavern, and a small amount of fire had begun behind Jessica. Looking towards the sounds, Jessica wondered how they were supposed to get inside. "Do you have any ideas on that front, Dr. T'Soni? It seems fairly sealed out here."

"Right. No, I don't know how you can bypass the fields, but I can't come with you unless you do. Sorry to not have more." Dr. T'Soni said, her voice betraying her fear.

Nodding, Jessica turned back to the doctor. "Alright, I'm going to go help the others, and we'll find a way in. Sit tight."

Heading towards the fire fight, Jessica slid into cover besides Tali. Wrex had jumped down and was smashing his way through the scattering of Geth, biotic energy and parts of geth flying around him. Sighting in, Jessica scanned the deeper sections of the cave. A geth sniper was scoping in on Wrex, a red targeting laser betraying it's location. The tungsten shot slammed into the geth's head region, spraying metal and glass out as the unit fell.

Tali had hacked a geth closing on Wrex from behind, and it had torn down two of it's comrades before the hack had been overridden. By then, Tali had moved down behind the unit, her shotgun pressed against it's center. She split the geth down the middle with a point blank shot, and moved towards Wrex. Jessica looked for more targets, but the cavern appeared empty.

"You missed all the fun, Shepard. What did the Asari have to say?" Wrex said, breathing heavy from the melee that had just finished.

"She is trapped behind some sort of field that was a part of the ruins. We need to find a way in." Jessica said, the lack of any other information evident.

Tali began walking around the cavern, towards some mining equipment. Jessica looked towards the back of the cavern. "Wrex, lets go look through the crates, maybe there are some explosives we can use to open a new entrance into the ruins." she said, walking towards the stockpile near the back. Searching through the crates proved to be less than helpful, most being filled with basic supplies. Jessica started back towards the Asari, to see if she had had any ideas. As Jessica began up the walkway, Tali shouted, "Shepard, I have an idea."

Turning to the Quarian, Jessica wondered what Tali could have found that she and Wrex could not have. "What is it, Tali?"

"I was messing with the mining equipment. The controls are fairly rudimentary, but the laser looks powerful enough. Perhaps we could make an opening?" Tali suggested.

Jessica followed the aim of the laser. It was pointed towards a rock formation underneath the doctor, as if a planned drilling was already underway. "Well, it's better than anything else we have. Fire it up, Tali." Jessica said, unsure if this was quite safe, but having no other alternatives. Having already hacked the controls, Tali began the warm-up sequence. A few minutes later, the laser was boring into the rock, creating a seven foot by seven foot channel into the ground. When an opening at the other end was spotted, the laser was turned off. Heading in, Jessica had Tali begin work on a console towards the middle of the room, hoping that a map would appear of the facility.

Tali had gotten the console to respond well enough, but it turned out to be an elevator. Sighing with relief, Jessica had her bring it up to the level with Dr. T'Soni on it. upon arrival, they deactivated the energy field holding her in place. "Doctor T'Soni, I'm glad you are alright." Jessica said, assuming her most diplomatic tone. Having had bad experience with previous Asari - Riane and Councilor Tevos coming to mind - Jessica was unsure what to expect from Liara.

"Please, it is Liara." the doctor said, wincing at the heavy formality Jessica was using.

"Alright, _Liara_," Jessica stressed, "We have some questions for you, concerning Matriarch Benezia T'Soni."

Liara locked a gaze on Jessica, who returned it in kind. There seemed a confusion in Liara's eyes, and a worry. Jessica's hard stare softened at this, and she continued. "Your mother was found to be conspiring with the rogue spectre, Saren, who is responsible for the geth attack on Eden Prime. We were hoping you'd have some intel on her location and/or motives?" Jessica said, her voice continuing its soft decline from stern to friendly as Liara's face got more and more stressed with what looked like new knowledge of her mother.

Liara backed up slightly. "I... I have no idea. I haven't spoken with her in... well, in nearly sixty years. I promise, any knowledge I have will, of course, be at your disposal, but - " Suddenly the room shook, as rock and debris fell from higher up outside. "Oh my, maybe we can continue this later, whatever you did to reach me seems to have destabilized the ruins." Liara said, panic on her face now.

"Right, Tali, lets get out of here." Jessica said, as Wrex and Liara crossed onto the elevator and Tali began fiddling with the controls.

As they arrived at the top floor, a Krogan Battlemaster walked forward, issuing commands to four geth behind him. Spotting Jessica and the others, he laughed,"Surrender. Or don't. More fun that way."

_'Nothing is ever_ _easy...'_ Jessica thought to herself. "The ruins are collapsing, we don't have time for this," Jessica said, hoping reason wasn't a foreign concept to the Krogan.

"Adds some spice," the Krogan said, laughing harder.

Tali immediately sent a hack she had been preparing during the back and forth into the trooper. The geth trooper spun around, it's first shot ripping through the sniper unit behind it. Grunting, the Krogan began to edge towards the left flank. Jessica motioned Wrex towards the geth, and then pulled Liara back into a defensible position near the back right corner. Pulling out her HMWSR and began scoping towards the flank the Krogan was trying to use. As he appeared in the middle of the pillars, Jessica took her first shot, his shield making an audible snap as the generators overheated from the force of the shot. His shields down, the Krogan dove for the next pillar.

Jess tossed a grenade on the backside of the pillar, forcing the Krogan out against the back wall. Seeing that he was snuffed out of cover, the Krogan began to slowly close for a charge. Aiming the shot between his forehead and bone-plate, Jessica squeezed out another shot, splitting the Krogan's head back and away from the plate on top of his head. Collapsing, the Krogan's genetics began to attempt a quick repair. Tossing a fragmentation grenade under the body, Jessica pulled Liara behind the back right pillar as the device exploded. _'Regenerate that,'_ Jess thought to herself.

Tali and Wrex had cleaned up the last three geth, and were near the door. The elevator shook, as Liara and Jessica began a mad sprint back to the entrance. "Go, get out of here. NOW. Hurry!" Jessica shouted. They ran out of the entrance and down the ramp, passing the collapsed Colossus near the bottom. Looking up, Jessica saw the Normandy coming in for EVAC.

* * *

Jessica sat in her chair. The entire squad was gathered to discuss Liara T'Soni, including the doctor herself. Looking over at the Asari, Jessica felt a pity for the small, blue girl. She had just been subjected to a geth attack, learned her mother was in league with it, and trapped in a Prothean ruin. The poor thing looked to be no older than a twenty year old human, and extremely worn out as well. Refocusing on the conversation, Ashley started yelling out over everyone else.

"How can we even trust her. She's Benezia's _daughter_. She could be in league with the crazy bitch." Ashley said hotly, her distrust in aliens very evident.

"Hmmm, right. The army of geth trying to fight their way inside doesn't disprove that **at all**." Garrus said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Yeah. It couldn't just be a ruse. She could have 'trapped' herself when Shepard was getting close to trick us!" Ashley said, the attempt to grasp at straws seeming to strain even her ability to believe what she was saying.

"Look," Jessica said, "She hasn't done anything yet, and her biotics could have stopped us from defeating that Krogan back there. If she was really trying to stop us, she could have many of times now. I trust her, so that is how it is going to be." The finality in this comment seemed to end debate.

Wrex grunted, "Yeah, besides, those biotics could be really useful."

"I... Thank you Commander. I know what a leap it is to trust someone in my position so readily." Liara said, stunned slightly by the sudden statement.

"Not really. Your reactions have been... sincere and unmitigated since we met. I doubt you could lie to me at the moment." Jessica said, a smile building on her face.

"Right, well... I do not know much about Benezia's movements in the last sixty or so years. I've been studying Protheans for the past half-century, and have hardly had any contact... What?" Liara said, puzzled.

"How old are you, exactly?" Kaidan asked, Ashley's face clearly looking for the same answer. Jessica sat up a bit at this as well; she knew Asari aged slowly, but Liara was throwing decades around like water.

"Only one-hundred six years. Hardly an adolescent, according to my people... My work is often ignored, as a result..." Liara said, her face turning purple as she looked at the ground.

"Only?" Jessica blustered. How could someone say that so... clinically.

"Right, well, it may seem old to a race so short lived as yours, but my people live to be a thousand years or more. In asari terms, I have barely had any time to make my impact." Liara said, her blush deepening.

"Ok. Enough of this, we need to focus." Ashley said sourly.

"Right. Liara, what can you tell us of the Protheans, or a device called the conduit, from your research?" Jessica asked, hoping for clues to help with the vision she had found.

"Unfortunately, not as much as I would like. From what I have found, the Prothean empire spanned the entirety of the galaxy, and yet as they reached their apex they were wiped out. Further, the evidence left is so sparse in comparison to the breadth of the empire described as to suggest some malignant force having further attempted to wipe all traces of them from the galaxy." Liara shifted slightly, the next portion of her ideas seeming harder for her to explain. "The oddest part is that the Protheans seem to also reference previous species that they utilized caches of information from to make their advances. It is as if there is a cycle of extinction that predates the Protheans. I cannot find more proof, only slight evidences from Prothean remains, as well as my theories."

Jessica sighed. This seemed to pair with the vision from the beacon almost too well. "Liara... I think I have the proof you need. We have evidence suggesting that the Protheans were wiped out by a synthetic threat known as the Reapers."

Liara straightened up, and looked bewildered, almost angry, at Jessica. "How do you have evidence? Where is it from? I have spent fifty years working on every scrap I could find. I find it hard to believe that you could swoop in and have the answers to the question that has driven me for so long." Her voice seemed strained, almost as if not wanting to know.

Shifting uncomfortably, Jessica spoke again, pity for the Asari clear on her face now, "There was a beacon on Eden Prime. We intercepted Saren's geth trying to destroy it and saved the colony. Unfortunately, we accidentally triggered the mechanism and I... accessed it, somehow. It gave me a vision, of the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers, among other things. Saren seems to be trying to resurrect them, according to data Tali recovered from a geth unit."

Standing now, Liara walked toward Shepard. "This fits... I... I mean, this is good news, it validates my theories, but... to have searched so long for something and finally have it... I don't know if I'm as happy as I thought I'd be..."

"Right... well, if you have any idea where or what the conduit is, we are looking for it now. Saren seems focused on that specifically, and that makes it priority number one," Jessica said, standing to meet Liara face to face.

Liara stopped, and stammered slightly, "I'm afraid I've never heard of this... conduit... but, maybe I can help in another way. If you would... allow me to meld with your mind - purely to view the vision with my own consciousness - then I could offer better insight into what it means, assuming I can even understand it."

Jessica hesitated, looking at the worried faces of the human crew members. Letting an Asari she barely even knew into her mind was... risky, at best. Still, with little other options... _'I need this information,'_ Jessica thought to herself. Looking at Liara, she found the trust at least partially there already. Odd... Shaking her head, Jessica said quietly, "I trust you, do what you need to."

Liara nodded, as her eyes became black pools. "Commander, I need you to relax. Fall into yourself, and embrace eternity!"

Jessica felt as if she was being dunked into icy cold water. Suddenly, she couldn't feel her body, her mind being completely enveloped by Liara's. Liara had trained onto the readily available vision, and was pouring over it, shock filling her mind. The shock also drug memories to the forefront, which Jessica looked at as they passed by, unable to enter them. There was a very young Liara in the grass, digging a hole. It looked like an asari park, and an older asari was watching over her, shaking her head in disdain. The image flickered, and the same asari was now handing the young Liara a book on galactic history. Flickering once more, a slightly older Liara was boarding a ship, the older asari standing in the crowd behind her, tears streaming as Liara left without a glance backwards.

Sudden shock shook Jessica as the meld ended. Her vision was spotty at first, but started clearing quickly. Liara began to fall backwards, the effort having apparently drained her. Reacting as fast as she could, Jessica caught the swooning girl, her left hand wrapping around the small of Liara's back while her right hand supported Liara's head near the base of the crest. Liara shivered at this contact, as small spikes of static electricity bounced from the crest to Jessica's hand. Moving her hand off the crest, Jessica grab the Liara's left hand and helped her stand for a moment until she was stable.

"Are you alright, Liara?" Jessica asked, the trembling doctor, more worry in her voice than she had meant to put there.

Liara nodded slightly, "Yes... I'm just... a bit weak after the excitement on Therum... The vision was... intense. I had no idea... You are a strong person to be able to bear that."

"Alright, meetings over. Liara, please see Chakwas before you do anything else. If anyone on this ship can help you, it is her." Jessica said, her left hand now on the girl's shoulder.

Liara nodded meekly and headed towards the medbay. Sighing, Jessica turned towards the FTL comms. Liara had sparked a feeling Jessica was not exactly ecstatic to be feeling. She had sworn it off after the disaster that had been Torfan. Joker's voice filled the room, "Council is awaiting a report, Commander. Want me to patch the through?"

Collecting herself, Jessica assumed her Commander voice. "Yes Joker, I'll handle that now. Thank you." She hated talking to the council. They had proven to be static while she was on the Citadel, and Jessica doubted that had changed.

* * *

Jessica sat on her bed. The discussion with the Council had gone decently, although the Turian Councilor set her teeth grinding with his accusations against Liara. Jessica was unsure why this was; they were perfectly reasonable concerns, and her crew had expressed similar worries. After having the asari in her head, though... Jessica could feel herself longing for the next chance they could talk, to spend more time with the girl. These were feelings she had successfully purged herself of after Tess's ultimate rejection, five years prior. She had sworn off getting that close to another person. She couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't disagree with her choices, and the pain of such a base rejection already hurt enough once. Jessica did not want to relive that day, not ever.

Yet... when she thought of the poor asari doctor she had just rescued, of the glimpses in the meld at her life... God, that feeling as the meld crashed over her, and the openness of the connection. Jessica could see herself getting lost in the memories Liara had, and had nearly done so in their brief encounter. To be able to access the building blocks of a person so readily... It seemed nearly addicting. Jessica sighed, discontented. _'Fine. I'll try, one more time. But if this falls through, I can't slip up again.'_ she thought to herself. Resolving to pursue the asari, Jess made a mental promise to herself; _'I take it slow, and I don't pressure her into anything. Be open and honest, and offer whatever_ _I__ have to share. That's as much as I can do.'_

* * *

**2685 - Nos Astra**

Jess was on her way up to Liara's office. The asari seemed... more closed than Jess had remembered, more willing to cross lines she wouldn't have before. When Jess had first walked in on Liara, she was threatening to flay someone alive with her mind. It reminded Jess a bit too much of Benezia - willing to achieve her goal at any cost.

The Illusive Man had given her intel that could help Liara with her personal mission; to hunt down the Shadow Broker. While Jess felt it was foolish to do, Liara was... committed to the task. Jess hoped that, by helping her complete it, Liara would calm down, return to her normal self, and come back to her. It had been two years since they had truly been together, two years since Jess had died. Jess knew it would be hard for Liara, but also knew she had to try, for her sake if nothing else. Walking up the stairs, Jess turned into Liara's office. Liara looked up, a strained smile coming to her lips. That strain dug into Jess; Ashley had rejected her fully on Horizon just a few weeks ago, and Liara's strain suggested that she was also having a hard time with something related to Jess.

"Hello, Shepard." Liara said, the strain from her smile lacing her voice as well. _'At least that hasn't changed,'_ Jess thought. Liara was always bad at hiding her feelings from Jess.

Smiling slightly, Jess asked, "How is your work going, Liara?" knowing full well that she had not found much since their last talk. Jess just wanted to build it up.

"Not well... I have some leads, but it will take time to follow them through." Liara said, looking away from Jess.

Smile broadening, Jess pulled the data-pad out. "What if I could give you answers now?" she asked, teasingly. Liara ignored the flirting lilt of Jess's voice, her eyes locked hungrily on the data-pad itself. Jess's smile flattened at this, a knot in her stomach growing as Liara continued to hold her at a distance in the conversation. Jess handed the information over, and watched as Liara began immediately looking it over.

"Where... How did you get this?" Liara asked incredulously.

Jess leaned back slightly, the smile returning a bit despite her apprehensions. "I have my sources..." she said cryptically. "Will it help?"

"Help? This is exactly what I needed. It traces shipments of supplies purchased by the broker to his lair. All I need are the logs to land the exact coordinates. I have to make a plan, now, before the broker realizes what I've been given." Liara was rushing towards the door now.

"Wait, Liara!" Jess said, grabbing the asari by the shoulder. "I want to help. Maybe... I could stop by your apartment to plan out the attack?" Jess asked.

"I... Ok, I'd like that. Here is the address. When you have some time, stop by." Liara said, slightly less confident than Jess had hoped.

"Alright Liara, see you then." Jess said, squeezing her hand as Liara rushed off muttering.

Looking around, Jess sighed. She had left her team on the Normandy, so now she was all alone in Liara's office. Walking towards the stairs, Jess began feeling alone in wanting to resume the relationship as well. What had happened between when she had died and now to make Liara so... cold? Jess contemplated this as she walked towards a local bar, sliding into a chair and waiting to be tended. The asari that mixed the drinks had promised her an open tab on her last visit, and Jess felt like using it.

Aethyta walked up, her face contorted. Something seemed to be on the matriarch's mind, but Jess wasn't in the best of moods. Waving her over, Jess let out a sigh. "Hey, Aethyta. Is that tab still available?" Jess said, her depressed demeanor obvious.

Aethyta grunted, as if preoccupied. Focusing on Jess, she managed a weak, fake smile. "Yeah... Yeah, sure kid. What did you want?"

"Glass of whiskey, if you have it?" Jess said, feeling a need for liquid courage.

"Sure, might take some myself while I'm at it," Aethyta suggested, looking down the empty bar. "Say, do you know why that info-broker, Liara, was in such a hurry?" Aethyta asked, pulling two glasses and a bottle of _Terran Spring_, a brand of particularly high-grade whiskeys. The bottle read 'Cask Strength' and the liquid was a light brown, similar to that of a board of oak. Aethyta poured two short, round glasses of the amber liquid and dropped two small cubes of ice in each. Passing Jess a glass, she tipped hers to her lips and pressed on. "Well, do you?"_  
_

Jess held her glass, letting the ice melt a bit. "She... She seemed excited about some information I brought her that she had been asking for, but I couldn't figure as to why..." Jess said, only lying slightly. "I don't know, she seems so... different from when I last knew her." Jess brought the glass up, resting the side on her forehead as she nursed the drink.

Aethyta nodded. "Yeah, I hear tell you and her had a... fling? That true then?" Aethyta seemed more attentive now, as if getting ready to pounce on her prey.

Jess sighed, ignoring the strange way the tender was acting. Not knowing why, Jess felt comfortable just... talking to Aethyta about this. The matriarch was straightforward and seemed trustworthy. "Yeah... Yeah, we were together. I thought it might be the real deal, but then I, uhm... well, I guess I died? when a ship attacked the Normandy SR-1. It's been two years for Liara, but I feel... Well, it feels like only last week to me. I was hoping she'd be happier that I was alive, be ready to get back into it... but she seems so... different now." Laughing slightly and taking a drink of the whiskey, Jess looked Aethyta in the eyes. "Look at me, moping here to you about my life. Why would you care? I'm just some random stranger, and so is Liara, for that matter."

Aethyta's eyes went steely for a moment, and then assumed a placid sheen. "Right, yeah. But still, it must be nice to finally talk about it, eh Shepard?" the matriarch said, nudging her. "Must have some wild stories about Liara from when you two weren't so... on the ropes, I think the phrase is?"

"No... I mean, we were intimate, but my favorite memories are of her and I just... being there for each other; two scared people thrust into the galaxies largest threats. She would brush my hair while I talked over mission details, and I would massage her crest while she explained ancient Pothean information. She was so... open, and accepting. The first time we joined in the meld... I felt a rush of freedom at being able to be so close to one person. It felt... like being dipped in cold water and then wrapped in a warm towel. The sensation was shocking, but also... inviting." Jess's face had flushed and she was staring at her drink now, the sweat beading down the glass.

Aethyta leaned back. "Well, it sounds like it was a steady deal then. I'm... glad to hear that some humans are open to such arrangements. But tell, me, if you could, would you share everything and anything with her? Would you trust her to accept you fully, despite your flaws?" The matriarchs eyes had flinted now, the placidity having fallen away.

Jess sucked in. This is where Tess had hurt her the most, all those years ago. Thinking of how Liara was acting now, Jess doubted it would work out well for her... but... The memories of their times together ran the gambit in her mind. Closing her eyes tightly and letting a tear squeeze out, Jess whispered into her glass, "Yes... If she would take me back, I would be more than willing to risk her judgement."

Aethyta seemed to back away from Jess now. "That is... most enlightening. I will not forget this talk, Shepard. But hurry, you have to go to her apartment, don't you?"

Jess looked at Aethyta questioningly. "I didn't say that... did I?"

"Oh, you must have." Aethyta said, her face twisting on itself, as if chastising herself for letting something slip. "Look, you've had a hard day, and a strong drink to chase it. Maybe you just forgot?"

Jess was fairly certain she hadn't said that she was off to Liara's... but... maybe? "Alright... I'll see you around Aethyta. Thanks for the drinks."

"You have no idea, kid..." Aethyta muttered.

"What?" Jess asked, confused again.

"Oh, uhm, nothing. Go, hurry, before she stops waiting!" Aethyta said, straightening slightly.

"Right. Bye again." Jess said before leaving the bar quickly, Aethyta shaking her head as she left.

* * *

**2686 - Thessia: Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities**

Liara rushed out of the meld quickly. Her connection with Jess was nearly finished, but the anger towards Aethyta was cutting into the concentration. Opening her eyes, Liara's pupils shone through the blackness. Looking around, Liara saw Aethyta pulling the blinds shut and locking the door. Liara reached out, grabbing her father by the wrist.

"Liara? What are you doing? We need to hurry, the asari medical team is coming in soon to run tests on Shepard, and I'd like to not have to blast my way out of the hospital." Aethyta said, worry evident on her face.

Liara summoned what little energy she had left and asked, in a meek voice, "Why did you suggest this would work, father?"

Aethyta looked at Liara, and then at Shepard. Her face seemed to run from confused to thoughtful, before a knowing look took over entirely. "You saw... our discussion on Ilium?" Aethyta guessed.

"Yes... Jess may not be able to read you well, but your intentions were clear on your face from my vantage. What stopped the biotic build up, Aethyta? You could have ended her there and 'saved' me without having to go through all of this trouble." Liara spat, accusingly.

Aethyta sat down in her chair, composing herself. "It was her description of her time with you. She said so little, but her tone... her longing... She seemed devoted and unsure of how to prove it. I knew she had the potential to be dangerous, but that style of devotion... It isn't something you forget once you've experienced it." Aethyta looked past Liara, at the bed. "I still debate why I didn't just end her then. I fear for your safety, Liara. She is dangerous, and she makes dangerous enemies. I don't want you caught up in that just for some fling. So yes, I still harbor reservations, and I always will, but I'm willing to give her the chance."

Liara leaned back against the wall. She still felt detached, unwilling to finish the process, even when she was so close. Liara looked at her hands, and then into a nearby mirror. The reflection showed her face, but her mind projected Jess's silhouetting her own. "She said she'd be willing to do this... and every memory I've searched, it has felt open and ready to be poured over... What if... What if she is right to be hiding as she is, that I won't accept her choice? And what if I am too afraid to share myself, in fear she will reject me?" Liara was crying openly now, falling back to sit on the bed by Jessica.

"Liara... could you really think of any reason, this close, or any choice, that Shepard could have made to turn you so violently against her?" Aethyta asked. As Liara shook her head sullenly, Aethyta pressed on, "And do you think that someone so fearful of your rejection would really be willing to reject you in return? Liara, have some faith girl. She can't get enough of you. You have to trust that everything will turn out, it is the only thing you can do."

Liara smiled slightly, the black spiraling back towards her pupils. "You know, father... For being so bad at this parenting stuff, you sure do know how to make a good dad speech."

Aethyta smiled back. "Ah, now why would you go and spoil my day, dammit."

Liara fell along the length of Jess's body, wrapping her arms around the body. The world went dark, and a cold sensation ran up her spine.

Her hand shot up to her head, and her fingers ran through her hair as she checked to make sure the ponytail was still. Jumping into the truck, her N7 armor snug against her body, Liara looked out upon the wreckage that was Earth.

* * *

**2686 - Earth (Two hours to Crucible)**

I am running up to Anderson. Liara and Garrus were resting after the last battle; that reaper destroyer had been a tough son of a bitch. I need to remember to thank EDI for that great goddamn targeting. Looking out, the beam to the Citadel is just ahead. So close. Looking back, Liara and Garrus are talking; Garrus is probably awkwardly saying his goodbyes in case they die. The damned Turian never let fear win, and yet... today he had been a bit more emotional than normal. I've been with him for so long, I guess I just thought he was impervious to such things.

Liara is heading to me. I can feel myself smiling, beaming at her stupidly. She has forgiven me every time I've fucked up. I've been a jerk at times, and the stress I've placed on her must be overwhelming. She found us the Crucible, helped to track down the Catalyst, and now she's here, with me. I couldn't ask for a better friend, or a better bondmate. Bondmate... Liara had gifted me with the most binding meld I had ever experienced just before the mission had started. The feeling was still there, of her mind and her being. I wanted to shout for joy at her having offered this. It was amazing. I was ecstatic. It was all I could do to avoid bursting, even.

"Shepard, are you there?" I hear Anderson ask. I must have zoned out. Turning back to him, I nod.

"Yes sir. What is the plan of attack?"

Anderson smiled. "That's what I want to hear, Shepard. We'll join what is left of Hammer to strike hard and fast into the area around the beam. All we need to do it get a small team up so that they can open the Citadel's arms. Once that is done, the Crucible can dock and we can end this god forsaken war."

I feel myself grow grim. The Hammer forces were in tatters. Barely half had made it to the checkpoint, and most of that had been wiped out in the push to here. "We'll make it, Admiral. Let's give them hell." I said, my hatred for these metallic monsters rising.

The comms suddenly came alive. "This is Admiral Hackett. Several Sovereign-class ships have broken away from the battle and are heading towards Earth; Harbinger included. Hammer team, whatever your planning, it needs to happen now. Any available ships, intercept and delay those reapers. We need to buy them more time."

"Shit. Harbinger? Looks like recuperation time is over, men. Let's go, NOW!" Anderson shouted.

Scooping up my Black Widow, I nod to Liara and Garrus. It's time to decide whether Javik's fate will be ours or not.

I rush out of cover and sprint towards the beam. Harvesters fly over and are met with Thanix Cannon's from the vehicles that had survived. As we make our way to the half way point, Reaper forces grow thicker and thicker. Looking back, I see Garrus and Liara avoid the fighting, keeping pace with me. Good. I need them now, more than ever. Suddenly, a red laser cuts into the ground nearby. Looking back at the beam, a Reaper has landed. No... the Reaper. Harbinger.

I hear Liara cry out in despair, my heart tugging towards her. Why did I let her come? Worry flickers through my mind. Closing distance with a wrecked Mako, I dive rightward to avoid another pass by Harbinger. The beam misses me by a large margin. I look to follow it's path; it cuts into the disabled Mako, flinging the vehicle like a toy. Rushing at the flying tank, I dive under it and slide to safety. Looking back as I do, the tank lands next to Liara. "**LIARA**" I scream, feeling my throat go raw with emotion. Scrambling back towards her, I pull her against the destroyed vehicle, out of fire. I need a plan. My face sets, the commanding instincts take over. We need to get her out of here. There is shrapnel scattered all over her body. My fury flares as I rip my omni-tool out. "Joker, I need an EVAC, NOW!" I demand, not waiting for a response.

"We're tak..g heavy fire, it might...ment, commander." Joker says, the static over the comm obscuring some of it.

I see the Normandy begin it's descent back a ways up the hill. Motioning Garrus towards the landing zone, I hoist Liara up over my shoulders and trudge back to the ship, tripping and sliding in the fresh mud, the blood of others having soaked the dirt. Reaching the ship, I give Liara over to Garrus. He'll keep her safe. This has turned into a suicide mission, but I have to see it through. Holding onto the side of the shuttle bay, I wave once to Garrus, Tali and Vega who are placing cover fire down. Liara stirs, shouting out "Jessica!" as she is taken up the bay. I look at Harbinger, then back to her. Walking up, I grab her hand, drinking in the very sight of her, reading the all too clear message in her eyes. "I Love you, Li." I say, my heart caught in my throat. Turning before tears come on, I rush off the ship, shouting back "Get her out of here!"

Heading back to the charge, I hear Liara shout after me one last time, "I... I love you." My throat seizes slightly as a lump forms, but I choke it down. Rushing forward, I dodge a husk and dive past a marauder. Harbinger is taking out marines left and right, but I've been able to avoid his shots so far. I'm closing on the beam, when the inevitable becomes evident. rushing down my path is the next pass of the laser. As I try to jump backward, it shifts with me. I feel the intense heat of the energy as it bakes through my shields, killing the generators. The plating heats, and my flesh burns. I feel the metal turn partially liquid as it sears into my chest and thighs. The forearms disintegrate, apparently too thin, and my arms turn a dark red as the blood boils to the surface of the skin. Falling into the dirt, I feel myself begin to drift off.

Coming to, I see harbinger lifting back into space. My eyes fall on my body, the boiled armor making my movements stiff, as my entire torso is now involved in the metal. Standing, cracks form on my arms and other regions of exposed skin, the burnt sections tearing at the movement. Picking up my N7 Eagle from the mud nearby, I drag myself up and start to hobble the last fifteen feet to the beam. A few husks charge me, but time seems to have slowed down, and I shoot them as casually as I would a target on a range. A marauder pops up near the last section, and I similarly dispatch of him. Diving forward, I am caught up in the beam.

I wake up in a pit of death. Human bodies are scattered everywhere. The stench lingers and delves into my pores. Groaning, I drag myself up again, looking for any other survivors. The only movement is a keeper, sorting the dead.

"Shepard, is that you?" I hear Anderson ask.

"Anderson? Where are you?" I ask, looking around. How did he make it up here?

"I'm in a strange room full of the dead on the Citadel. I followed you up after the Reaper had left." Anderson said, immediately answering her unspoken question.

"Right. I'm going to look for a way out, Anderson." I reply, feeling dizzy.

"Ok. I think I've found a way for myself. It leads into some kind of valley. I've never even seen this part of the Citadel." Anderson says.

"Me neither," I respond, coming up to a door. It opens for me immediately, and I begin a descent into a valley similar to what Anderson had seen.

"Looks like it led to a room. There is a console in the middle... I'm just going to have a look real fast." Anderson said.

"Don't get too far ahead, Anderson. We need to stick together!" I reply, feeling panic rise in my voice. The return is only static. Crap. What had happened to him?

Coming out of the valley, I see stairs leading into a large room. Climbing the stairs I see Anderson standing near the middle, back to me. A smile creeps up on my face as I call out to him. "Anderson, you crazy son of a bitch, I said to wait for me - "

Anderson turns but looks like he is being electrocuted. "Bravo, Shepard. I never expected you to get this far." a familiar voice chirped. Turning to the side, I see the Illusive Man coming into vision. "Fascinating, isn't it? the ability to control a person so... completely?"

Whispers shriek in my head as my vision starts to grow cloudy. "You... You don't know what you are playing at, Illusive. The Reapers are a threat. They must be dealt with." I spit out, fighting the control he is exerting on me.

"No. Don't you see? With only a small cache of knowledge, humanity spring-boarded centuries forward in only a few decades. Think what great leaps we could make, with the Reapers under out control?" the Illusive Man reasoned. "I can control anything, even you Shepard. With this power, the Reapers will bend to us!"

"You are crazy. You can't control them, you are already being controlled by them. They won't _let_ you." Anderson says, his own control returning to him.

"No, you are wrong. I can do it. They don't control me!"

"Look at yourself," I say, "You are doing exactly what they want; having us fight each other instead of them. They will wipe us all out while we bicker amongst ourselves."

"I... I only wanted to help humanity. Yes, I gave up some things, but only so I could take what I needed and use it. They don't own me! I will own them!" My arm starts to rise, pistol in hand. "If I must sacrifice the few for the many, then I will, Shepard." My pistol is aiming at Anderson, his eyes already forgiving me what I'm being forced to do.

"No!" I scream hoarsely as my finger squeezes the trigger. Anderson takes the shot in the right kidney, and slumps to the ground. I feel tears form at my eyes as I turn to look at the Illusive Man.

"Surely, you must see that what I say is true, Shepard?" he asks, almost longingly.

"No. You would pit us against each other when the very fate of the galaxy is at stake right before you!" I shout. "How many lives have been lost that you could have saved by instead fighting **with** us? How many more will die when you fail? You are theirs, fully and forever, and they have used you to further their own ends. Look at yourself! Barely even human still."

He seems taken aback. Looking out the observation windows, a human frigate explodes in the distance. "I... I wanted to save us. To give us better standing and security... I'm... Thank you, Shepard." The Illusive Man's pistol is pressed on his own temple now. I turn away as the trigger is pulled. Feeling my mind free up, I rush to the console, and open the citadel arms. Falling back, I end up sitting by Anderson, who is still breathing, although heavily.

"What a view." I say, looking at Earth.

"Best seats in the house," Anderson agrees.

"It's almost over, eh?" I say, looking at him.

"Yeah... I've forgotten the last time I've just sat down... It's been so damned long... Just sat down and relaxed..." Anderson says, the words coming softer now.

"Well, hopefully we'll be able to sit down together for a good while longer when it's all over, eh Anderson?" I ask, nudging him.

Anderson coughs. Looking at me, he says, "You did good child... You... did good..."

I turn away for a moment, while his hand holds mine. Tears are streaming down my face as I look out at the battlefield. Anderson's grip suddenly goes slack, and I turn to him again. "Anderson? Anderson!" I shout, before turning away. The shock has begun to wear off, and my injuries are starting to register more and more. The signals cause my heart to start pumping faster to deliver blood to traumatized zones. I feel my arms being coated in blood as the burns and other wounds pulse. Throbbing and writhing in pain, time seems to stand still.

"Commander, are you there? Nothings happening. We've docked the Crucible but it isn't firing." a voice says over the comm. "Commander, are you there? It must be something on your side."

Coming to, I force myself up. The fresh blood makes my grip slick, and I fall. "I.. can't see anything.. from here." I say, gasping as my heart races faster and faster. Grasping at the console, I fall onto a platform. The platform begins to rise up as the world spirals to black again.

Regaining my senses, I get to my feet. My N7 Eagle had made it up with me, I noted, scooping it up. Looking around, I see a drone flying closer to me. It envelops my arm, and then backs away.

"Scan complete. Non-Indoctrinated force. Language assimilation complete. Welcome, Commander Shepard. This is the Crucible Virtual Intelligence, as uploaded by the Citadel."

"Where... where am I?" I ask, confused.

"We are inside the Crucible command module."

Looking more closely at the drone, it appears to be a sapien of some sort. Standing on two legs, each with what looked to be a tri-pod at its base, it had a tall, thin torso, similar to a stringy human teenager, and two arms, each with much longer upper arms than any I had seen before, and the fore-arms ending not in a wrist, but another tri-pod styled appendage. The head was sitting on a thin neck, and ballooned from there to include what looked like three pupils layered inside each eye socket, slits in a slightly bulged section where a nose would normally be - similar to a Turian - and a thin, narrow mouth. No hair seemed to protrude from the top of the head, and sockets on the side of its head appeared to replace the need for outer ears. "What would you be? I've never - uh - seen one of... you." I ask, confused at what I am looking at.

"I am an intelligence uploaded to the Citadel fifty-nine cycles ago by a species currently unknown to your cycle. The best interpretation would be the Mundaris."

"That... Alright, but what does this have to do with you?" I ask, interested now.

"When the Mundaris discovered the threat of the Reapers, they searched ancient data caches for ways to destroy them. Only seven cycles prior, the then dominant Sarutil Empire had attempted the first draft of the Crucible, attempting to harness high amounts of dark energy to systematically destroy all life in each cluster. Their plan had been to build the device and move it from cluster to cluster, destroying all of the Reapers and moving their people behind the trail of destruction to keep them safe. It appears that the plan had been discovered by indoctrinated forces from within, and betrayed to the Reapers. Some of the Sarutil's had hidden data caches for the next cycle to attempt to improve upon their work. The Mundaris were the first to attempt to use the Citadel to enhance the Crucible and focus it's energy. Upon docking, they had attempted to start the device. Under-prepared, the Crucible of that cycle backfired and destroyed itself, as well as it's creators."

Something didn't fit... "If they were destroyed, then how did you end up here?"

"The Mundaris then did what the Protheans would imitate; they preserved a small contingent of their people to last until after the harvest had ended, and then plant data caches for the next cycle to learn from their mistakes. In addition, the Mundaris also installed me into the Citadel, attaching my software to an unused frequency carried by the Keepers that had direct links to the main interface. I have existed here ever since, waiting for the next organic to succeed at utilizing the crucible plans."

"Wait..." I asked slowly, "So... every cycle since, they have failed?"

"Yes. None since the Mundaris walked the galaxy have made it this far. Most do not find the Catalyst, as you refer to me. Those that do have lost the Citadel or are not organized enough to build the Crucible. Yours is the first Cycle in two million, nine-hundred fifty thousand, seven hundred twelve years to do so. It is... quite remarkable."

"Right..." I said, shaking my head, "So... How does it work?" I ask, still unsure of what to do.

"The original Crucible was designed to merely destroy. Each cycle has refined this option, or added and refined other options, as well as purged options they felt to be unacceptable by the current cycle. Currently, there are two well-rehearsed choices available, as well as a third, new variable that has been added very recently. The newest use has little testing or models run to give me any sure definition of its effects." The drone moved towards a terminal in front of me, and a seat rose from the floor. "This is the command terminal. From here, you can set the crucible to emit energy signatures to either destroy or control the Reapers. There are side-effects to each that you may wish to know."

"Why? I came to destroy the Reapers, and that seems possible already. This decision seems pre-determined," I say, anger rising.

"Commander Shepard, the issue lies in the unique situation that both you and your cycle are in."

Sighing, I look through the drone at the terminal. "What situation?"

"Currently, an event without precedent is occurring. In every cycle, organics have created synthetics, and the synthetics have waged war against the organics as a result. This has been the case for the past three million years, and access to Reaper databases aboard the Citadel suggest it has occurred in every cycle since the beginning. In this cycle, however, the Synthetics have been given true individuality, as well as chosen to make peace with their creators. Unfortunately, your cycle has not calibrated the option to destroy to key on to only Reaper signatures. The energy will rip across the Galaxy, wiping all Synthetic life out."

"So... If I destroy the Reapers, I kill all Geth and any other AI-based life?" I asked, EDI coming first to my mind, along with Legion's sacrifice.

"Yes, as well as all synthetic portions of organics. This would include a large portion of your body, which is seemingly commingled with machinery, it would appear." the drone added.

Swallowing, I looked at the controls. "What were the other choices?" I asked.

"You may also decide to assume full control over all Reaper units. The demand of this choice is that your DNA be uploaded to the Citadel, much as the Reapers would an organic in order to build a new Reaper, so that your memories might form a new Intelligence that can exert itself over the Reaper's main functions, essentially allowing you to edit their base functions much as they had the geth. As a result, your current life would end, obviously, and you would be given purpose through the Reapers."

Shuddering, I looked at the controls again. That seemed a better choice, as it allowed a large amount of leeway in how to handle the Reaper situation. "What would stop me from destroying the Reapers directly through this?" I asked suddenly.

"Presumably, logic. It is unknown how much of the host is retained in the Intelligence. It could be just as likely that you reason out that the Reapers were correct, and continue their work as such. Models and tests only suggest that the Intelligence would be built off your DNA, not that your desires would necessarily be reflected in it's decisions."

I turned away now. My choices seemed limited; Kill EDI and the geth, whom I had fought so hard to give life to, in order to stop the Reapers, potentially killing myself as well, or disintegrate myself on the whim that I could control the Reapers on my terms. Both were one way streets... Liara's face appeared in my mind. It was so vivid that I almost thought I could touch it. Reaching out, my hand past through the drone hovering in front of me. Shaking my head, I inquired one more time. "What was the last option; the new one?"

"It seems that, three cycles ago, a race known as the Inusannon edited the Crucible with a third option based on their studies of synthetics. Their findings showed that organics, according to glimpses of previous cycles, attempted to better themselves through technology, until they built replicas of themselves; Synthetics. Synthetics could self-evolve and self-adapt, but did not understand organic drive or emotion. The primary lacking trait was Empathy, something not able to be manufactured. The Inusannon postulated that the Crucible could be harnessed to utilize a DNA strand from an organic edited appropriately to gift empathy to synthetics, as well as the self-evolution and self-adaption to organics, essentially bringing both to equal platforms so as to solve the issue of conflicting progression. Unfortunately, the Inusannon required prefabricated DNA to operate their version of the Crucible, which was not readily available in the amounts or diversities required."

"The next cycle polished this idea, allowing a sacrifice to give their body to the Crucible's energy stream in order to spread the DNA across the galaxy. The individual would have to have significant synthetic replacements in them at the time of the sacrifice, however, and few volunteered. The Protheans added to the plans by putting software on the crucible which would - and subsequently has, now - edit me to be able to synthesize DNA from the organic controlling the Crucible. Unfortunately, one issue remained that could not be fixed outside of a genetic accident. The host DNA had to be applicable to all races, or all races had to give DNA. Unless a race of significantly diverse genetic background were to arise, the sheer amount of gathering would prevent this option from being pursued. Your presence and bodily make-up resolves these issues."

I sat a bit more straight, focusing back on the terminal. "How? How do I solve those deep, underlying issues?" I ask, feeling this too good to be true.

"Humans, as it would seem, come from a significantly diverse background of genetic make-ups, unlike other sapient races. This appears to result in many divergent cases within the species, such as separate patterns, cultures, physical and mental outlooks. This diversity allows a human DNA sample to have ample adaptability if applied to other races, regardless of home-world origin. As a result, all races in the current cycle would benefit. Further, as you are partly synthetic already, the process to adapt a strand of DNA on my part would take much less time, and you would personally be catapulted forward in comparison to others by a few centuries of adaptation to the new genetic keystone. Essentially, you would be the first hybrid life-form."

Swallowing, I spun around to face away from the terminal. "Would I... could I survive the process?" I ask, betraying my hope.

"The probability is high, yes. The process would take a small amount of time, and it would be painful, but I could direct the energy of the crucible towards you in order to alter and adapt your genetic make up. The energy would super-charge your cells and the synthetic portions of your body, encouraging a commingling. From there, I would direct the building blocks to become AI in nature and begin editing the keystone. Only one strand of DNA would be changed, but the energy inundated in your body would accelerate the spread from the keystone throughout your body. The Crucible would then create a copy of the keystone and build up an excess of energy greater than either other option would normally require. It is unclear if the device could withstand that build up, but the process will be finished before any harm comes to the Crucible. Essentially, the effects will have been set regardless of if the Crucible survives. The energy build up will race throughout the Mass Relay system, and all life will be inundated with the copies of the keystone, which will be charged by the wave of energy enough to replace their current genetic keystones. While potentially lying dormant in the current generation, all future children will be born naturally with this change, and the full effects will be shone in them."

"Further, synthetics will absorb the keystone DNA much like would be done should you choose to control the Reapers. The keystone will carry an understanding of organics, as well as a way to facilitate empathy in synthetics. This will attach itself to their most base function, permanently editing their core processing and giving them the final missing piece to complete their rise from machines to full-fledged lifeforms. Additionally, the Reapers would also be affected by this, and the memories of the races they had absorbed would become available to the galaxy once more."

I leaned back. There was a hope of survival... Of being with Liara in this. I know my perfect choice is to control the reapers, to allow the geth and EDI a chance at life. But... There were still uncertainties in that, still a chance of failure. Destroy was not an option. I could not bring myself to genocide, not of the geth, not after Legion... But... Synthesis... I could change the very fabric of life... Allow everyone a fair playing field. The more I think about it, the more I convince myself that it is the best option. Not only for the Galaxy, but for me, for Liara.

Turning back to the drone, I make my decision. "I will submit to the Synthesis operation." The drone leads me from the terminal to a platform that has risen up from the floor in the middle of the room.

"The Crucible will now direct a large current of energy into you. You will most likely not stay conscious during this process. If you should survive, know that my software..."

The drone fell away as the first wave of white light thrummed across me, and my body felt as if it had been set aflame at the cellular level. There was a low humming that mimic'd my heart. _'Thummmmm Thummmmm... Thummmmm Thummmmm...'_ Everything else fell away, until even the humming was like a distant noise. A singular image fixated in my mind; Liara, just before the charge had begun on Earth, staring at me. The smile on her face, and hope in her eyes. I wanted to cry out. To embrace her. And then the weight of my decision falls upon me. I had just altered the universe, moved the heavens and then shuffled them, in order to allow myself some selfish joy in seeing her again. What would I tell her? How would I explain this to her? Would she accept it?

My mind goes blank, as the worry creeps into my very soul.

* * *

**2686 - Thessia: Athame's Embrace Medical Facility**

Liara sucks in, as the final break from the process occurs. Shepard is coughing, but still unconscious. Turning to Aethyta, sweat beads down Liara's face. _'What... What did you do, Jessie?'_ Liara thinks to herself, her head swiveling back to Shepard. Tears bridge over as the immense weight of the decision Shepard made washes over her again. Aethyta had grabbed her shoulders in a firm, steady grip. Liara moves to get up, and the door opens.

"No Chakwas, I do not understand what you think we will find and, to be perfectly honest, I doubt it will amount to anything, based on the use of your original report." A voice scoffed.

"Dr. T'Nohl, really. We have given you the evidence that the reports fit with current data on Shepard's recovery." Miranda replied, a data-pad waiving at the asari. "Now, listen to reason. What else could possibly have implanted those nanites into her?"

"It's alright, Ms. Lawson. She is due her skepticism. Let's just run this test and let the results prove it. After we finish, I must insist on... expanding the people who know about this. You know that - Liara... I wasn't expecting you to be here. What is the matter dear?" Chakwas said, walking into the room.

Still weary from the process, Liara leaned on Aethyta heavily as they rose from the bed. "She's just a bit... erm... tired. We've been here for a while. She seems to be emotionally stressed about something..." Aethyta led on, avoiding Dr. T'Nohl.

Dr T'Nohl followed Aethyta with her eyes, narrowing as the Matriarch reached the door. "Matriarch... What exactly were you doing in here?" the doctor asked, suspicion in her voice readily available.

"Keeping an eye on Liara, Evatos. The Matriarchal Council should know that. Please, don't waste any time with your report." Aethyta said, the venom potent in her eyes as she looked back at the doctor.

Leading Liara out of the room, Aethyta quickened the pace to avoid further scrutiny. As they leave, the bickering between the doctors expands. Suddenly, the sound from the room dies out completely. Aethyta gets into the elevator as Miranda, Chakwas, and Evatos tear into the hall to look for her. A silhouette of Shepard leaning up slightly, barely conscious, is visible through the blinds. Smiling, Aethyta holds Liara more tightly as the doors close. The three doctors see her just as the elevator begins its downward trip, shouting after her.

* * *

"Great. I don't know what that crazy woman has done, but I intend to find out. The Matriarchs' will want to know." Dr. T'Nohl says, storming off.

Miranda looks back into the room. Shepard had rose for a moment, bleary eyed and grasping, a faint whisper of "I'm sorry, Liara" coming off her breathe before falling back into the bed. "I can't help but agree to wanting to know what happened..." Miranda pined slightly, turning slightly to Chakwas.

Chakwas, meanwhile, had slumped against the hallway wall. "I can't help but feel responsible... She was so angry with me when I didn't tell her what we knew. What would the harm have been, Miranda? She should have been told."

"Look, the one thing she has going for her is plausible deniability," Miranda said. "The asari are democratically ruled but, much like human politics, those with the most experience usually sway the general theme. The Matriarchs are no different, and we can't tell how they will respond to nanites, much less whatever we find in the DNA analysis. If Liara is kept outside of the loop, it won't be as bad for her, and possibly she will be left alone."

Chakwas sighed. "The intention is good in nature, Miranda, but it is still wrong. We need to tell her that we don't know what we're doing, give her a fair playing field. At the moment, I think she feels we've run out of options anyway. Best to be upfront about it."

Looking away, Miranda toyed with her hair slightly. "Lets just do the tests now and come back to this later, Chakwas. T'Nohl has given us exactly what we needed; access to the lab on the day she has scheduled all of her team away. Now that she is off chasing Aethyta, we can focus on what we came to do."

Nodding slightly, Chakwas shut Shepard's door, and followed Miranda to the lab.

* * *

Aethyta set Liara down on one of the spare beds before turning to the in-built home-VI. "I want this place locked down. Fully. No visitors, unless I ok it. Let me know if anyone enters the property," Aethyta said, a calm sense of command leaning into her voice. Liara was asleep now; she had been drifting in and out since they had left the hospital.

Heading to her own room, Aethyta began to plan for the next issue. The Matriarch's would know what she had done, and it would only be a matter of time before they came down on Liara. She needed to delay them until Liara, and Shepard, could recover. Aethyta cursed. Why had Evatos been there? What were the Matriarchs' up to with agents on the medical team? Worry and planning threatened to overwhelm Aethyta as she drifted off to sleep.


	8. Ch7: Of Other Things

**A/N:** Wow! My first two reviews! Thanks to those who spent some of their time doing that; it really is helpful. I thought maybe I'd address one of the items brought up, about dates. I do realize that everything is in the 2100's CE Earth years, but the Galatic Council was founded in 500 BCE and began it's year count then, so I'm using that time table. I know it is a bit awkward, but I liked the idea of using a Galactic time set. It is also why I use military time instead of civilian. I'm still trying to find a way around using the days of the week and the months, but I may just have to accept that fact.

Onward and upward. I am planning to start dropping a chapter every Monday. Maybe faster if the writing comes on a bit better. This chapter was a bit harder to write, and I'm not sure I'm happy enough with it yet, but enough of that, onto the story :D Here we see a bit less direct movement, and a whole lot of build up on multiple fronts, with some intersection here and there. A bit of a filler chapter, but important, none-the-less.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities - 0200**

Evatos had followed Aethyta when the Matriarch and her daughter had left Athame's Embrace. However, upon arrival at Aethyta's home, she had been turned away. Evatos had attempted repeatedly to gain entry, only to eventually have been confronted by the aggressive Matriarch. Evatos was an average biotic, more capable at finding information then at manipulating dark energy. Faced with one of the more capable Matriarchs in terms of biotics, Evatos had backed down completely. She was still unsure what the pair had been doing in Shepard's room, but the results had been near immediate. Denied the information, she had headed back to Athame's Embrace, realizing she had left her prime concern unattended in the labs.

The asari were faced with an unprecedented disaster in the post-war galaxy. For nearly three millennium, they had been the most advanced species; due immensely to the hidden Prothean data caches on their home world and other colony worlds. With the secret out due to the fall of Thessia, the asari had lost two key components in the Galactic community; the respect of their allies and the edge to continue to have a technological edge over the Galaxy. What was worse was the timing - humanity was on the rise, and a stumble of this magnitude threatened to old order balance of power drastically. The Matriarchs were casting about desperately for some way to salvage their position. Their eyes had fallen upon one disenfranchised human scientist, Miranda Lawson.

Lawson was known to be human-centric, having along history with the terrorist group Cerberus. However, her time with Shepard, as well as the subsequent reports from the Commander, suggested a fundamental shift in the doctor. It appeared she was starting to be more accepting of other races, even willing to work with, if not for, them. The hope to bring her into the fold had grown in the Matriarchs ranks, and the search for how to do so without offending humanity was begun. Just ten days prior, Councilor Tevos had convinced the council to give Dr. Miranda Lawson a Galactic pardon, which would supersede even the Alliance's public demand for her capture.

The Matriarchs had jumped at the chance, thinking to envelop the stranded geneticist into their scientific circles and benefit from her knowledge; as well as her relationship with Shepard. The response from the Alliance had been unanticipated, however. They welcomed the doctor back with open arms, immediately requesting she join the team to recover Shepard's body. Upon learning that Shepard had been recovered and stabilized already, they had placed her on the team to revitalize her. Now, the Matriarchs were in the unknown position of having been out-maneuvered and left in the dark in terms of information on Shepard. Whatever race could gain sway over the Commander could subsequently control a large amount of clout among Galactic leaders; as well as a prominent figurehead for their supremacy.

Feeling the pressure, the council of Matriarchs had employed Evatos to keep an eye on the progress and bring any finds back to the asari as insurance should Lawson prove to be less then accepting of their proposals. She had received a massive amount of medical earning over the past week, but the medical training had been useless so far. Nothing that had been happening with Shepard fit the crash course Evatos had been rushed into. Faced with an unknown, her job had become immeasurably more complicated; the Matriarchs still demanded results, regardless of the difficulties. What was worse was that Lawson had been given the perfect tool, Karin Chakwas, to unlock this puzzle. Evatos had been sloppy, not keeping the military doctor under supervision, but she felt that it had been an innocent overlook; the quality of Chakwas's report in comparison to Shepard's condition had been abysmal. She would not have even found out about the discoveries made so far if Chakwas had not insisted to Lawson that they inform her of a separate test that had failed.

Reaching the labs, Evatos logged into the room and began stripping terminals down for data on the previous experiments done by Chakwas and Lawson. Chakwas had kept meticulous notes, ensuring that all knowledge on Shepard's blood work, as well as the sample tests from other species, would be available for future work. Evatos felt relief wash over her as the data fell into her hands. She was finally catching up in the race; Lawson had made a mistake not wiping this data. Something new caught Evatos's attention; a new project file had started. _'What are you up to now, Lawson?'_ Evatos wondered, suddenly absorbed into the new files.

The lights cut out in the room. Behind her, a familiar sound of energy sprung to life, and a pale blue light fell across the lab. Suddenly, Evatos flew across the room, hitting the wall behind her with overbearing force before being placed in a stasis field. Her assailant had gathered the datapads from the table in the lab and was now heading for the door. Blood trickled from her nose as the pressure pushed on her. As the source of the field left the room, the stasis began to fade. Dropping slowly to the floor, Evatos gasped for air, the familiar feeling of having been choked and winded by biotic energy washing over her. She had a flash to her training at the academy, and shuddered. Getting up, Evatos ran her hand under her nose, wiping the blueish-purple blood off. She began to search the lab, looking for anything that had been left behind.

* * *

**Thessia - 0600**

Steve was strapped into the shuttle on his way down to the Thessian surface. The last week had seemed to zip by in a blur; it felt like only the day before that he had been stranded on Earth. As the shuttle raced towards the landing zone, Steve stared down at the surface. The Thessian oceans looked like a solid sheet of dark blue, tranquil and unchanging. The foliage was a myriad of colors not seen as often on Earth; greens ranging from near yellow to light purples dotted the untouched landscape, while in contrast the city of Nos Arium was towering and vibrant in it's whites, grays, and blues.

Steve had been informed that Commander Shepard was, in fact, alive, but unresponsive. He ached to go and visit, to comfort her and try to help in any way as she done for him. Shifting slightly, Steve turned back to the rest of the shuttle. Wrex Urdnot was diagonal from him, with Primarch Victus and Javik sitting beside him. The three of them had demanded to be on the first shuttle down for a myriad of reasons; Javik and Wrex wished to pay respects to Shepard, of course, but there was more to it. Victus needed to get into contact with the Turian Hierarchy and start to organize more appropriately the reconstruction of Turian space, Wrex wanted to ply upon good will to secure more territory and rights for the Krogan, and Javik seemed inordinately interested in finding Liara for some reason.

The Prothean was most surprising. Steve remembered that Javik had always complained about Liara's infatuation with his culture, her constant questioning. In fact, Javik seemed normal until only a few days prior to leaving Earth four days ago. He and Major Coats had gone to look over a find in the tunnels under London a few hours before. Upon his return, Javik had a small case with some odd slates, and his face seemed contorted in confusion and what Steve thought might have been worry.

Sighing, Steve swiveled back to the window. _'I wonder how Vega and Ashley are doing...'_ the shuttle pilot thought to himself. Outside of Shepard, they were the only people he had spent much time with. He looked down on Nos Arium again, becoming entranced by the sight of ships flying by as the shuttle got closer.

* * *

**Thessia - Nos Arium 0730**

Aethyta shut the door quietly behind her, not wanting to wake Liara. The girl had exhausted herself the day before with the deep-meld, and Aethyta knew some rest was needed before she'd be able to cope with what had just happened. Setting the home VI to a defense grid mode, Aethyta caught a taxi and headed into the city. Liara would be low on EEZO in her bloodstream, due to the immense strain of the biotic connection that had been undertaken between her and Shepard, so Aethyta was heading into the market for some enriched foods.

Aethyta sighed. Evatos had tried to break in last night, but Aethyta had been waiting for the little matron. "Why select me to keep her in my sights if you are just here to spy on me anyway?" Aethyta had asked. Evatos hadn't answered, fleeing as soon as Aethyta allowed it. The asari seemed genuinely confused as to what had occurred in the hospital, but Aethyta had learned long ago not to believe everything as it seemed. She had called up an old eclipse girl she knew and had Evatos tagged, with the request that if the 'doctor' were to head into the hospital, she not leave with anything new.

Aethyta had yet to hear from the commando, Jennae, but she had all the confidence that the girl could pull it off. Jennae had transitioned from Maiden to Matron more slowly then most, and rooted into the Eclipse organization overtly as a result. The girl was one of the best hit-n-run operatives in the gang, and a quick riser through the ranks. What was best was that she owed it to Aethyta, who had convinced the Eclipse to take her in nearly three hundred years ago while she was still only eighty-eight. She had been one of the youngest recruits in Eclipse history, and extremely talented.

Arriving at the market, Aethyta set about gathering fruits and meats for the meal. She was unsure whether to be proud of Liara for being strong enough to have handled the deep-meld, or angry that it had started to work almost immediately upon completion. Despite any effort on Liara to try and go unnoticed, that sort of commingling would be felt at Shepard's core. The human had already shown signs of realizing that Liara was now, somehow, aware of whatever choice she had made that had her so worried. It was now up to Liara whether to accept Shepard's actions or deny her at the most basic level. Sighing, Aethyta gathered what she had found. One way or another, Liara was going to unleash Shepard onto the Galaxy.

Walking towards to counter to finish her purchase, an asari ran into her, spinning Aethyta around. Turning to face the culprit, Aethyta began her out burst. "I did not live a thousand goddess damned years for some stupid asari to forget how to walk without running into - "

"Shut up, Aethyta. Always so ready to set off on people. Jeez." The asari said flippantly, flashing a smile.

"Jennae! Wonderful... Don't do that again, or you'll be a purple stain on the floor. I trust everything is going well?" Aethyta said, turning back to the counter to finish her purchase.

"Yeah, although your home VI seemed exceedingly adamant at not letting me surprise you in your home. You owe me a new magnetic-holster for my pistol, the damned thing ruined mine." Jennae said ruefully.

"Poor dear, so out of practice that even a simple home VI stopped you?" Aethyta teased. "Whatever were the Eclipse thinking, making you train recruits."

"No idea, but that's their mistake. Makes free-lancing so much more tempting." Jennae replied. Leaning in closer, she went on, "I have some information for you, if you want to look it over. Let's head back to your place."

Nodding, Aethyta collected the food and headed back to the taxi terminal with the commando.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities 0900**

Chakwas flipped the switch for the lab lights. Miranda and she had set up the genetic code examination the previous night after Dr. T'Nohl had left. Chakwas was still unsure as to why they had to do that without the asari knowing, but Miranda had ignored the concern and insisted upon it. Heading over to the terminal, Chakwas pulled up the program that had been running the tests to check on the progress.

"How does it look, Karin?" Miranda asked, walking into the room.

"Inconclusive as of yet. No differences between current samples and file samples," Chakwas replied.

"Have we matched versus virtual samples as well?" Miranda asked, confused by the response.

"Not yet. We still have multiple species to run through to be certain that the current findings are realistic for all groups at the moment. Virtual comparison will begin in the second half." Chakwas replied, looking confused at Miranda's line of thought now. "Why would it matter? It isn't as if something could alter _all_ organic material so radically. At best, I would assume only living pieces at the time would be altered."

Miranda sucked in slightly. "You're probably right... We'll just have to wait for the tests to finish. Has Dr. T'Nohl arrived?"

Shaking her head, Chakwas replied "No. The terminal at the lab says she hasn't been back since last night after we left. Why, did you need her for something?"

"What?!" Miranda exclaimed. "When... When was she here? Never mind, I'll go look. Thank you for telling me."

Chakwas settled back into her seat as she wondered at what Miranda was so worried over. The asari doctor wasn't the kindest person, to be sure, but she was still a colleague. And then there was the Liara part. Chakwas still felt the sting of Liara's trust being torn from her. In fact... it almost seemed as if Miranda was trying to keep information from spreading outside of human hands, or at the elast to let humanity have the information first. _'Hrmmmm...'_ Chakwas thought to herself, _'Maybe... maybe Evatos and I need to talk...'_

Setting up the terminal, Chakwas began to log into the data-banks to review some previous information from the prior tests. Accessing the first test's results and notes, Chakwas gasped. "It's... gone? Where... Who... What is this all about?" Chakwas exclaimed loudly.

Miranda came running into the room. "What's the matter, doctor? I heard a shout."

"I... All of our data is missing from the files." Chakwas said, now searching the other tests rapidly.

"How? Who would have... _T'Nohl..._" Miranda said, seething.

"Now, why would she wipe our data? That only hinders her." Chakwas replied, looking at Miranda with a baffled expression.

"Right... I'm... I'll be back later..." Miranda replied, "Keep searching, see if you can recover anything. That data is crucial for any future projects."

Chakwas nodded, turning back to the terminal and engrossing herself in the task.

* * *

**Thessia - Nos Arium: Spaceport 0930**

Hackett was calm as the shuttle docked at the spaceport. A small bodyguard of elite human forces flanked him, dressed in deep black instead of the traditional Navy Blue of the Alliance military. Urdnot Wrex, Primarch Victus, and Major Coats would be arriving and required a debriefing on the condition of Earth. Two of the Normandy were also on the shuttle; Javik the Prothean and Steve Cortez, both of which had been left behind on Earth during the evacuation. Cortez was a non-factor, but the Prothean... He could be a potential resource, or a hindrance.

Hackett had been spending the last ten days in a fitful struggle within the Systems Alliance government. A new political contender raising the old Terran banner had arisen in the aftermath of the war, and it was putting pressure on in-seat leaders to make radical adjustments to the otherwise moderate body of lawmakers that presided. They wanted Udina, that backstabbing bastard, made into a hero for humanity for his attempt to put them on the top, and for Shepard to be ostracized for getting in the way. The feeling among the radicals was that Shepard was too willing to work with non-humans; hell, she even made peace with the geth. Further, despite Hackett's best efforts, rumors were spreading of her relationship with an asari. While not a new phenomenon, it certainly wasn't hurting the radical ideology that she was drifting further from humanities best interests. Layering onto the asari angle was the fact that she was being cared for on Thessia, instead of any number of human held worlds.

Hackett audibly sighed at these thoughts. The woman wasn't even up and moving, and they were already trying to maneuver around her as if she were fighting them at this very moment. Hackett had helped keep moderate policy in place, becoming inordinately vocal in his attempts to stave off the attacks. Humanity needed the Galaxy, and vice versa. That was the core of his messaging, and it seemed to be holding the line so far. As the shuttle landed, Hackett placed these worries to the side, and assumed his best 'diplomat' expression. It was far short of anything a real diplomat would have accepted, but Coats, Wrex and Victus were military stock, so Hackett doubted they would care too much.

As the three primaries fell into step with his guard, Hackett led them off to begin discussing more pressing issues.

* * *

**Thessia - Nos Arium: Aethyta's Apartment 1100**

Evatos had found the data scrubbed from the system, not even a fragment left behind. The assailant had been thorough, that was certain, but Evatos had managed to find out certain facts that had led her to the markets in Nos Arium. Despite the energy being similar, biotics had a distinctive feel and styling based on race, as well as instructor and so on. This stemmed from the way the biotic thought and how they were instructed. Asari would always have a stronger feeling to their biotic applications, being so infused and naturally open to the manipulation that it came naturally. As a result, asari biotics felt exceedingly fluid, and they could shift from style to style easily. Krogan were much more blunt, and not as naturally adapt. Biotic application usually limited itself to crushing or smashing with force in order to off-balance an opponent while a physical attack was made. Humans had less of a distinctive styling and more of a general lack in strength with biotics. While asari and krogan had some natural talent, humans required dangerous exposure to EEZO, as well as implants in their brains, to facilitate biotic feats. As a result, their applications generally resembled their military, with strategic implications being placed over hard hitting force and brunt attacks.

The asari had the upper hand in the field, being the most naturally adept and therefore more able to mimic other species in their uses. Unfortunately, asari still could not think like other species off-handedly, and therefore miming a different style of biotic power was detectable. As a result, few rarely trained in the attempt, making it safe to assume that the first hint at a style was usually accurate. While not trained to the point of being able to pinpoint exactly who had used biotics on her, Evatos did recognize the basic differences between how each race utilized dark energy. Her attacker had been asari, of that she was certain. After her 'talk' with Aethyta the night before, Evatos had assumed that the Matriach was responsible for the attack. Lo and behold when an Eclipse commando had dropped in on Aethyta while she was shopping. Those datapads were crucial to Evatos's investigation, so the asari knew she had to formulate a plan, and soon, to recover them.

Now she was just outside the Matriarch's apartment for the second time in as many days. Evatos was in the back of the property, where windows were generally placed on apartment buildings in asari architecture. Looking in, the windows had sight lines across the interior from the central living room to the front door, with the exception of the bedrooms and washrooms. Evatos saw the commando step into the kitchen from a side door, which attracted Aethyta's attention. Scanning the area, Evatos could not see Liara anywhere. _'Where could that pureblooded pup have gone...'_ Evatos wondered. Ignoring it, she moved towards the backside access, and began uploading an override for the apartment VI. Once it was done, she would be able to sneak in for a few minutes while the VI repaired itself and get what she needed. Evatos only needed to send the signal when she was ready._  
_

The commando pulled some discs out and slid them towards Aethyta. _'That must be the data!'_ Evatos thought to herself. Watching Aethyta slide the OSDs into a console and look through the information, Evatos bided her time. Aethyta seemed genuinely irritated at what she was looking at. Tossing the discs back onto a side table in the central room, she start shouting at the commando. _'What had she expected to be on the discs?'_ Evatos pondered. Seeing an opportunity, the signal was sent to the kill code she had uploaded.

* * *

Jessica looked at the yellow sun above her. She had been stuck on earth for five months now, with no end in sight for her suspension at destroying the Alpha Relay. Hoisting herself up off her bed and went to the washroom inside her confined space. Staring at the mirror, Jessica saw her sandy-blonde hair draped irregularly from the night before, bangs cutting at odd angles across her forehead and eyes. Her skin was lightly tanned, with freckles spotting her cheeks and nose, and her eyes shone out blueish-grey from amidst the bangs. She ran a hand through her hair, and started to get ready for the day.

Jessica sighed. It was going to be another day of testifying; of wondering where Liara might be and if she even cared anymore. Getting into the shower, she thought back to the decision of destroying the relay. It was true that it had been the only delaying tactic against the Reapers, but that wasn't why she had done it, when she thought about it. Liara... That was all that mattered. She remembered thinking that as the Normandy came in to pick her up just before the asteroid hit. Now it tore at her. Jessica was a soldier; her prerogative was the safety of the Galaxy for the good of the many, not the few. Sighing again, she started the water. It was icy to the touch. _'Cold water again...'_ She thought to herself.

Liara gasped for breath as the sensation of cold transcended the dream and her body shivered with imaginary chill. Looking about, she saw that she was in Aethyta's home again. There was commotion out in the kitchen and living area. Liara stirred slightly, hearing Aethyta shouting in anger at someone or something. At first, it was just incoherent, as Liara came to, but soon she could start to make out words.

"What do you mean, Jennae? I told you to take any information pertaining to **Liara and myself**, not some random goddess damned medical files." Aethyta shouted.**  
**

"I... I didn't know what she had at the time, Aethyta! She was practically dancing in her boots at having found this. I figured I should jump on the opportunity to relieve her of them as soon as possible." another voice said, exceedingly defensive. Liara assumed that it must be Jennae.

A string of expletives erupted from Aethyta as she started to drift away from Liara's room. Liara began to get up, entirely interested in the discussion now going on in the apartment. Snatching up some clothing, she dressed and slipped out of the room. Leaning into the hallway, Liara looked out into the central room. Looking out the back wall windows, she saw that it was nearly midday. Turning back to the kitchen, Liara saw an asari commando sitting at the bar as Aethyta paced on the other side.

"What did you do, exactly, Jennae?" Aethyta seethed through clenched teeth.

The commando seemed to squirm, almost as if afraid. "I... well, I followed her into the hospital and waited for her to finish gathering data and gauge her reaction, just like you asked. Then she kind of let her guard drop, so I figured I'd relieve her of the data and stop her from recovering it. So, I cut the lights and stole the datapads she had gathered, while also wiping the information she had accessed from the terminals. These are the only copies now."

Aethyta grumbled loudly. "You realize that Evatos is one of the best spies the Matriarchs have, yes? She will figure out that I am the source of her difficulties and come looking here. Maybe she already has! I wanted to know what she knew, not draw more attention to us!"

Liara gasped slightly. Evatos... That was the asari from the hospital, the one that had given Aethyta and her issue when they left. _'What could we possibly need to worry about her for?'_ Liara wondered. A slight creak came from the central room, pulling Liara's attention to it. A shadow fell seemingly from nowhere near one of the chairs. Suddenly, the asari in question was grabbing the datapads. "Hey! How did... Where..." Liara said, loudly enough to give up her position to both Evatos and Aethyta.

"Liara? When did... You!" Aethyta shouted.

Jennae spun around and jumped at Evatos as the 'doctor' activated her cloak. Suddenly the VI roared to life, an alarm sounding. "Matriarch, repairs have just finished. An attack on my systems brought down the defense grid momentarily. New precautions are now in effect. Lockdown initiated."

"Dammit. Back down Aethyta. I have no idea why you are interfering in this operation, but I will not have you keep me from success." Evatos said, uncloaking near the window.

Jennae threw a biotic warp at the agent, catching her on the left side of her barrier. The clash of biotic fields caused an explosion, throwing the windows out and pushing Liara back against the hallway wall. An energy field dropped across the now open wall, preventing any exit still. "You goddess cursed fool. Stop blowing holes in my house, Jennae. What exactly are you doing here, Evatos? Why did you follow me last night?" Aethyta shouted.

"You really don't know, do you." Evatos said, sudden laughter lacing her words. "The Matriarchs have cut you that far out of their circles."

Liara looked at Aethyta, wondering what that was about. _'I should have Feron and Sam look into that...'_ she thought. Suddenly, Aethyta was crackling in dark blue and purple energy, and Evatos was gasping for breath. "Maybe you should die now, and save me the trouble of worrying about loose ends." Aethyta threatened. Evatos attempted to signal that she would talk through the powerful stasis, blood streaming from her nose and ears due to the immense pressure.

As Aethyta let her down, Evatos coughed and spat out blood that had clogged her sinuses, having flooded the nose and throat to try and balance out the pressure. "Look... I was sent by the Matriarchs to make sure we had our own copies of the data on Shepard's recovery."

"Wha- Why would we need that?" Liara said, piqued by the apparent need to delve into Jessica's life.

"The asari look bad in the Galactic circle, due to our hidden Prothean beacons." Aethyta said, watching Evatos to judge how accurate it was. "It only makes sense that we would want to keep up on the most advanced technology, as well as have some sway over the Commander, considering the praises already being heaped upon her. One word from Shepard would wipe away the distrust others would have of us."

"Yes. The Matriarchs are attempting to influence Dr. Lawson. They want insurance in case that fails." Evatos said, shifting slightly towards the nearest chair. Sitting, she continued, "The Matriarchs are trying to conduct a veritable brain drain on the Galaxy, to ensure they have a lead on technology despite no asari- specific caches of information. Leading figures in all fields are being drafted to the asari ranks through whatever means are necessary. Unfortunately, Lawson is a bit less... prone to being solicited by non-human groups."

"Right... I think you can have the data back, Evatos. There has obviously been a misunderstanding here." Aethyta said quickly, motioning the VI to disable to lockdown.

"No no no. What was this all about, Aethyta?" Evatos asked, now interested as to why the Matriarch had attempted so swiftly to stop Evatos. "Or... Maybe the Matriarchs need to know about this interference...?" She added, leaving the threat hanging. It was an empty bluff; Evatos had no clue what she would suggest, and admitting she had temporarily been caught off guard would look bad.

Aethyta gave the asari agent a steely look. "That depends on what you know, Evatos."

Shuffling slightly, the asari looked back at what had happened. "Well... I know Shepard is more responsive now than she has been since arriving four days ago. That must be something worthwhile for the Matriarchs." Evatos hedged.

Liara saw Aethyta's face relax considerably. _'Is... Is the deep-meld that much of a secret...?'_ Liara wondered silently. Aethyta rarely showed fear, but at the moment the Matriarch was seeming to find open space around what she had thought was a closed corner. Liara settled to ask more on this discovery later._  
_

"Oh, nothing. Maybe Liara's presence was enough to coax a reaction. We'll have to wait and see, won't we Evatos?" Aethyta said, a smirk crossing her face.

Evatos sighed. "Fine, keep me in the dark. I have more important things to do now, like making a back-up of these discs. I'm sure Lawson has discovered what your fool commando did to the data banks, and will be wanting these back." Ducking out the shattered glass, Evatos quickly left the area.

Jennae and Aethyta exchanged a few more words, and the commando exited as well. Liara was sitting on the couch, the excitement of the recent back-and-forth having exhausted her again unexpectedly. "What... what was all of that about, father?" Liara asked, her breath shallow with exertion.

"I... I had a trace dropped on the doctor quickly after she tailed us to here. The deep-meld... Well, if the Matriarch Council finds out before Shepard is more... revitalized... It could be an issue for you and me. They have spent so many years keeping it secret; I doubt they'll allow one to slip through the cracks. It's going to be hard enough convincing them of the need once Shepard is up and about." Aethyta slumped next to Liara.

"I... I guess I understand that." Liara said softly.

"Right. The meld drained you of EEZO, but your body is still running biotic processes that we have adapted to doing subconsciously. You'll be a bit drained for a the next day or so, but I've got some enriched foods for you." Aethyta said, getting up to grab some food for Liara. "Do you... want to discuss what you saw?" Aethyta hedged, as dishes clanked in the kitchen.

Liara closed her eyes. She had been thinking about the choice Shepard had made since they let the hospital. Given the opportunity to destroy the reapers fully, to have some sort of safeguard... and she had thrown it away for the best chance to live... To see her, Liara, again. Deeply touched as she might feel from that idea of dedication, Liara also felt... betrayed. They had fought this whole war, seen Earth, Palaven, and Thessia burn, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of people to just delay the Reaper advance. All for what? A chance at living?

"I'm... not sure what to do..." Liara said. "Shepard made a decision based on a premise I cannot fully come to grips with..."

"What choice could she have possibly been given to break that devotion you had for her before?" Aethyta asked, a sudden worry streaking her voice.

Liara summarized what had happened on the Crucible, taking from the now shared memory. "She had an opportunity to destroy them, or even control and divert them. Both would kill her, but save us all. Instead... she altered the very fabric of existence to cheat death and have a chance to see me. What do I say to that? She just cast aside everything we had worked for... for me."

"I think you embrace her desire to be with you," Aethyta suggested, although her face had gained a hard set. "Accept that she would leave her primary goal in life just to see you one last time. Would you have chosen differently, Liara? Can you honestly say you would have died rather than try to be with her one last time?"

Liara blinked. "No... I don't know... Maybe? I... I think I understand why she did it, and I can at least accept the premise. But... coming to grips with that much dedication... I'm just not sure how to react."

"Here, eat this," Aethyta said, handing Liara a plate of food. "You have time to think and make an informed decision. Lets just... rest for a bit." Aethyta added.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace Medical Facilities - 2230**

Jessica gasped for air. A sudden burst of pain shot through her entire body as she opened her eyes, the meek light from the medical equipment blinding her entirely. Opening her mouth to scream, Jessica only felt her throat strain as the dryness of it struck her. Her body began seizing with pain repeatedly as the sensation of dying washed over her, followed quickly by the massive surgery Chakwas had led on her, and finally the pain of having portions of her body re-engineered to repair the damage inflicted on her. Heart racing, Jessica felt the pain begin to subside.

Thinking back, Jessica remembered the flash of white on the crucible right before losing consciousness. The VI had been trying to tell her something... What could it have been? And then she had come to on the Citadel as the pain of cratering into the steps near the Apollo Cafe had struck her. She had tried to move before realizing she couldn't feel her limbs, much less move them. Then, the pain had overcome her, and she saw her blood pooling around her. Passing out, she only remembered seeing her life flashing before her, treating her current self as a spectator. Jessica had begun to second guess herself, to wonder if she should have chosen a different path.

Then she felt another join her in spectating her life. Looking backwards, she saw Liara viewing and entering her life, sharing in her successes and failures, her most intimate secrets. Soon Liara had caught up to her, and they embodied the same memories, until she tore away. Feeling Liara leave, Jessica had felt the first pang of worry that there had been something unsettling or unacceptable about what Liara had seen. Dashing forward, Jessica rushed to the last decision she had made. Dwelling on it, she barely felt Liara reenter her mind and exit it multiple times as the asari moved through her life. And as Liara viewed the decision on the Crucible, Jessica felt her leave, felt the confusion and disgust with which she tore away. She had surfaced then, and reached out to Liara.

Jessica dry heaved as she rose from the bed. "Liara..." she mumbled, grasping wildly in front of her, her vision still blurred. Trying to stand up was met with two issues; the tubes and equipment hooked up to her resisted, and her legs nearly buckled at the slightest weight. Moaning loudly, she whipped her arms about, searching for something to grab onto. Her left hand flipped a nearby tray, and a flurry of implements flew across the room, creating a massive clatter. "God Dammit." Jessica shouted weakly, nursing her hand where a knife from the tray had nicked her. Her vision was coming into focus, and hey eyes watered from the small amount of light.

"Who is there?" a voice from the hall called out in confusion.

"I... I need help..." Jessica stuttered, her head starting to swim from the sensory overload that had been going on for the past ten minutes.

An asari had rushed into the room. "Commander Shepard? What... How!?"

"Help... Me..." Jessica sighed grabbing at the asari's labcoat and falling forward onto the floor, equipment falling around her as she dragged them with her.

"Dr. Lawson, I need some help in here." the asari called out. A familiar heel clip echoed from the hall, as Jessica felt herself begin to pass out once more. Looking up, a familiar white jumpsuit came into view momentarily before her sight once more blurred.


	9. Ch8: Motivated by Memory

**A/N: ** Thanks to all of you leaving feedback! It's nice to hear, both the positives and negatives. Especially anything to do with readability. While I might not change my entire style of writing, it's nice to hear if certain aspects could use a bit of fine-tuning.

Onto the story! I really had a fun time with this chapter. While it might not be the most active one, it certainly has some character development and helps progress our power-couple further. Thanks, as always, for reading, and I hope to have more for you soon :D

* * *

**Shore Leave Apartments**

Chakwas awoke in a startle to the sound of her omni-tool ringing; an incoming comm waiting for her. Looking bleary eyed at the time, Chakwas saw that it was 0530. "Who the damned hell..." Chakwas muttered, activating the device to look at the sender. It was the lab. Answering, Chakwas tried her best to banish the sleep from her voice. "Yes? This is Karin Chakwas speaking." she said, stifling a yawn.

"Chakwas, get down here, NOW. Something drastic has happened." the voice on the other end said quickly.

"Is that..." Chakwas paused to yawn, unable to choke it down this time, "Is that you, Miranda? What could you possibly be doing up this late? Does Dr. T'Nohl know about this?"

"Yes yes, she is here with me right now." Miranda said impatiently.

Evatos spoke up suddenly. "Yes, I'm here already, doctor. We could really use you down here, however, so let us try to keep this brief, shall we?"

Sighing, Chakwas swung out of bed and began to leisurely get dressed. "What is it that is so important that it could not wait until we came in at a normal time?"

"Shepard regained consciousness." They said in unison.

A sudden calmness born out of necessity fell over Chakwas, as she rushed through the remaining steps to prepare and leave. "I'll be right over." she said, now too preoccupied to ask why they were working together so readily.

* * *

**Aethyta's Apartment**

Liara got out of the bath and began to towel off. She looked in the mirror, and her own blue asari face stared back. It had become a ritual of hers over the past two days to look at mirrors in order to remind herself where she was. Liara's dreams were filled with memories of Jessica's life, gleaned from the deep-meld and surfacing whenever given the chance. Reaching up, Liara petted the crests slightly, feeling the static shock at the tips, and breathed outward in relief. It had become disorienting to feel so divided inside. She grabbed the robe nearby and headed back to her room to get dressed for the day. Aethyta was pressing her to go back to Athame's Embrace, but Liara was afraid of confronting herself and Jessica. For the last two days, she had been swept up in an internal struggle to come to grips with the choice Jessica had made to end the war.

Coming into the kitchen, Liara saw Aethyta sitting back and watching the weekly Asari Council meetings begin to unfold. The Nos Arium Republic was a small, old-family group most notable among asari for producing great leaders and councilors. Councilor Tevos was from the same republic, and almost every other asari to have served in her position before her had also been. Collecting a plate of food and a drink, Liara went to join Aethyta in the central room.

"Hello, Liara." Aethyta said, obviously consumed by the program in front of her.

"Hi, father." Liara said absently, continuing to try and wrap her head around Jessica's memories. She had accepted the premise for the choice, but the implications were proving harder to come to terms with. She began to eat her food in an almost automatic fashion.

"Oh, grow a quad." Aethyta shouted, nearly throwing the datapad in front of her across the room. "We don't need to beg from the other races! Let us stand strong for once, dammit. Goddess above, is there no spine left in the asari?" Huffing angrily, she got up to begin pacing the room.

Shaken by this outburst, Liara turned to Aethyta in confusion. "What is happening, father?"

"These Goddess cursed weaklings want to offer out the advancements gained from beacons we had." Fuming, Aethyta stormed more heatedly through her pacing.

"Why would that be bad, father? Certainly we need to save face, especially in times as dire as these. Can you truly suggest that alienating the other races is a correct course of action?" Liara tossed back, looking to see why Aethyta was acting so... overbearing.

"No no NO. Now, more then ever, we need to embolden our position. Juts look at what humanity has done with their meager finds. Can you truly think that a Galaxy in which the younger races have both greater numbers and equal technology would allow for the asari to exist?" Aethyta was now beginning to slow down, her mind attacking the problem more coherently it seemed.

"Well... What if we merely gained influence with cultural supremacy?" Liara suggested. "The other races already uphold _our_ council, along with our systems of Galactic government. Whats to stop us from manipulating, rather then enforcing?"

"It works, to a point, but... Goddess be damned, but you sound like Nezzy. It is a good plan, but it is so weak willed, so underhanded. The asari could enforce and be powerful, despite our numbers. We have the choice." Sighing, Aethyta slumped into the chair defeated. "Enough of this for now. I want to know how your decision is going."

Liara fidgeting awkwardly. "I... I think I can come to terms with her choice, like I said..."

"But...?" Aethyta goaded.

"But how to respond to it? What do I say; thanks for risking the Galaxy for me? I don't feel comfortable knowing she would bend so much, risk so much, just for me." Liara moaned into Aethyta's shoulder. "Why did she do it?"

"You know why, Little Wing. And while the decision feels risky, even now, I can't fault her for it. I admit to feeling willing to do the same. If I had the option when Nezzy left me, I would have then." Aethyta said, pulling Liara in closer.

Liara sniffled a bit. "Alright... I think we should go see her. Today."

Smiling, Aethyta continued to hold Liara close. "I'm glad to hear it, kid."

* * *

**Temporary Council Chambers, Thessia**

The room buzzed in continuous murmuring as Hackett, Tevos, Sparatus and Valern assumed the head of the table and turned to face the assembled leaders. Ambassadors from each race - Quarian, Elcor, Hanar, Volus, Krogan, Batarian, Rachni and Geth - had assembled to voice concerns and hear of the galactic plan as it stood currently. Behind the scenes, Hackett knew that cracks and lines were being formed. The asari felt backed into a corner, having been found in violation of Galactic laws they personally had set in place. The turians, having suffered the worst war in their history, looked to blame someone for the loss of life and material, and found an easy target in the asari, whom they accused of withholding useful military secrets that might have saved Palaven from the brunt of the damage it received. The salarians were falling in line with the asari, but only grudgingly. The technological race felt spited to have been left out of the loop on such a potential development secret as well; they were only barely accepting of the situation due to being given Council-level priority on the beacons, in order to help extrapolate benefits for the Galaxy faster.

Hackett sighed internally. No one wanted to admit that advanced warning had been available for three years and fully ignored regardless. Even humanity had scorned the call to arms Shepard had led through the Geth wars and battle with the Collectors. It casted a poor light on the leaders of the Galaxy when a terrorist organization was the only group willing to embrace the message and try to help divert the consequences. Of course it had failed; Cerberus could only do so much before it toppled. A laugh escaped Hackett as he realized he was actually thinking of the group in a positive light after all they had done. It made the realization that they had been the vanguard for the galaxy even more bitter.

Humanity was caught in-between. The turians plied upon the military of the Alliance, suggesting the knowledge that had been hidden could have saved Earth. The asari attempted a separate angle, instead playing the fact that they had been the race to help humanity up to the ranks of the council; first with sponsoring Shepard as a spectre, and then again when they convinced the council to allow humanity a spot among them after Saren had been defeated. A third pull was coming from within, however, that Hackett was most concerned with.

After the First Contact War, human radical groups formed a political party in the Alliance known as Terra Firma, which had been xenophobic to an unruly degree. After Saren had been defeated, most humans saw the rise to Council as an affirmation of moderate ideals and Terra Firma had fallen apart. Unfortunately, after the reaper war, and with the discovery of the Prothean beacons on Thessia, a resurgence of the ideology had rushed into the political sphere in the Alliance. Calling themselves the Sol Sanctum, they had begun demonstrations and gained small victories among the more desperate of politicians, including some small ranking Admirals.

Hackett had held the line, demanding a moderate approach and appropriate repercussions for the asari to pay, but he was no politician. The Alliance had plans to replace him, and Hackett was doing his best to ensure that the replacement was moderate as well. At the moment, three candidates had been front-runners; Uldan Parnaza, Quincy Johansen, and Major Percy Coats. Hackett, having met Major Coats was surprised that the man wanted the job at all. After having talked to him a bit, Hackett was prepared to but his support in Coats's corner, feeling the man to be smart and understanding enough to work with the other species, as was needed.

Hackett was pulled from his thoughts by Tevos suddenly. "...and so Councilor Hackett will address the assembly of the current status of the Galaxy militarily." She sat back, a slightly smug expression flashing across her face as she glanced at Sparatus and Hackett.

Hackett coughed slightly. His itinerary had included a small snippet to add to Sparatus's address on this matter, but nothing of real length. Looking at the turian slightly, there was a muted expression of disdain directed at Tevos, who stared straight ahead as if nothing was happening at all. _'It is a ploy, both to lower the turians from the primary military force of the council, and to show the humans as unprepared to be in a spot of leadership...'_ Hackett thought to himself. _'And well played... If I defer to him, he gains and I lose, whereas if I head in with what I have, I stay even and he loses. Why hadn't I anticipated this...'_

Standing up, Hackett took the main podium to speak to the ambassadors. "The reapers have fallen back from the relays and all common trade routes. Limited contact has been made over the past ten days, with full sweeps of the Sol, Trebia, and Parnitha systems showing no activity. Further searches are being organized, and counts are being done on populated worlds to assess the extent of damage the war has inflicted." Shifting slightly, Hackett paused. He was running out of prepared material, and needed a way out without losing face.

Sudden inspiration struck him, and he continued with a renewed vigor. "Following this assessment, the council will be creating a reconstruction fund to match initial estimates. Further inquiries will be made on a biannual schedule, and allotments offered based on a council vote of confidence of need. As the asari have proposed such an endeavor in order to aid the Galaxy in its reconstruction, they have offered to front the bulk of initial investment to create the fund. Please join me in thanking Councilor Tevos directly on behalf of the asari people." A pause for applause, and Hackett finished "Questions will be taken now."

Sitting back down next to Sparatus, Hackett glanced at Tevos to see the reaction. Her face had gone visibly pale, having been blindsided by the offer of hope Hackett had accredited her and the asari with. Hackett chuckled slightly; he was unsure if the asari could live up to what he had offered, but he knew they couldn't back down now. The asari were trying to save face still after the beacon discovery, and this was both the perfect opportunity to do just that or back out and lose more. Sparatus's stance had softened greatly, apparently pleased with how Tevos's attempt had stung her instead. Watching as Tevos approached the main podium to answer the throng of questions, Hackett felt himself relax like he would in an engagement, where he had just beaten an opponent tactically and only had to sit back and watch them attempt to recover.

_'Maybe this isn't so bad after all...'_ Hackett thought to himself leisurely, watching his opponent squirm.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace**

Chakwas hurried into the lab with yet another scan result of Shepard. There was immense activity across her body, creating an map of movement throughout. It looked as if the nanites visited synapses in the nerves to collect electrical signals from the brain informing them of tasks to do. When given no tasks, the nanites seemed to enter an automated mode in which they shipped oxygen and other necessary minerals throughout the body to key points, in effect supercharging the bloodstream and making the body more efficient. As a result, Shepard's muscle growth was proceeding at almost triple the rate it should have after such an intense and absolute shut down of bodily systems. Further, the nanites would likely be able to forestall dystrophy in prolonged space environments.

What was better, in Chakwas's opinion, was the return of her data from her first set of tests. Somehow, Evatos had managed to recover the files from the person responsible, and had even gone so far as to name and out the culprit readily to both Miranda and Chakwas. An Eclipse commando named Jennae had stolen the data, wiping the files clean of the computers on her way out. Why the Eclipse wanted the information was unknown to Chakwas. Evatos suggested a black market sale, or a possible Terminus Systems event like the Skyllian Blitz, but that seemed convenient. Whatever the cause, Chakwas was unconcerned. She had more important things to focus on. It was fascinating that Shepard had regained consciousness. Since then, the nanites had gone into overdrive, and so Chakwas was taking samples, scans, and observations of their behavior almost constantly. She had outlined tests to be run on each, and a mound of labels and paper work was growing in the lab.

Unwilling to start the processes until she vetted the ideas against Evatos and Miranda, Chakwas was now left observing her most recent scans as they ran at quarter speed so she could attempt to catch any unusual movements in the bodily systems. She had so many theories to test against the data; not the least of which concerned her initial experiments on Shepard's blood. Hopefully Miranda and Evatos would return from their outing soon, and Chakwas could start investigating more thoroughly.

* * *

**Nos Arium Spaceport**

Miranda crouched in the scaffolding of the spaceport. Looking down, she saw Evatos approach the asari she had named Jennae. Fury and suspicion raged through her as she watched the two of them greet each other in a slightly Mexican-standoffish way. This seemed too easy; tracking the thief had taken only five hours. Miranda was well aware of the use the data on Shepard could be to any government, and she was also aware of the asari Matriarchs' wish to envelope her into their circles. Miranda felt that she hadn't gotten the whole truth out of Evatos yet... but the asari had shown her the proof of Jennae's handy work. Each terminal had traces of a program often used by the Eclipse to hack them. Miranda knew the signs immediately, and knew how to tell the difference between a frame job and a real Eclipse; her time in the Terminus systems both before Project Lazarus and then with Shepard had given her the experience of both attempts. Regardless of whatever else Evatos had said, this added up.

Suddenly, Jennae relaxed heavily, and laughter peeled across the empty hanger. Preparing to spring the ambush, Miranda watched Jennae lift Evatos and begin a heavy stasis field. The asari doctor was not a gifted biotic, which explained a great deal for as to why she was a doctor, but also left her to the whim of the commando. Accessing her implants, Miranda launched herself into the air, suddenly shoving down, towards the commando. The throw hit the asari commando squarely across the shoulders. Shock cut across her face as she attempted to repel some of the force with a hasty barrier, but her left leg snapped audibly under the sudden force as she was driven into the floor.

"Who... are you..." Jennae grunted, purple blood oozing down her leg where the break had broken skin.

"Miranda Lawson. I dislike thieves. Do you fit that description, Jennae?" To illustrate her point, Miranda feinted a lift at the asari, baiting out her barrier, and then threw a stasis field around the leg, crushing down on the sensitive limb. "I especially dislike it when the data is crucial to a friend. Now, why would you want to steal that information, I wonder?" There was a loud crack as the leg condensed from an added set of pressure Miranda sent through the field.

Jennae screamed out in pain as the broken cracked more, while Evatos head over to the hanger doors to ensure no one visited. Miranda expanded the stasis field to envelope the entirety of the commando except the head. "Why don't you tell me why you wanted the data, Jennae?" Miranda crooned, dropping a small warp on her good leg. The fields connected and shimmered as they erupted. "If you don't... Well, We'll see how well you function with micro-fractures along each of your bones."

Jennae's eyes had a wild tilt in them as she reared her neck backwards and a hard groan escaped. "Fuck you, Lawson. I've nothing to say to you."

"Tut tut. That isn't what I wanted." Miranda said, dropping another micro-warp on the stasis, this time on her rib cage. Jennae bucked wildly, distorting the stasis field slightly. Miranda motioned for an answer, but none was forthcoming. Sighing, Miranda dropped a third on Jennae's right elbow, and a mixture of blood and cartilage exploded from the soft joint.

Head lolling, Jennae spat in Miranda's direction, and laughed. "You think this is going to break me? You think that the Eclipse don't train for just this kind of abuse? Bitch, you have nothing." To demonstrate this, Jennae suddenly suppressed the stasis around her and used a pull on Miranda's legs, while throwing her torso. Miranda put up a hasty barrier, but was put off balance by the attack from multiple angles. Miranda felt herself drawn upwards as a singularity was cast above her. A large warp broke the singularity, and Miranda was thrown backwards against the hanger wall. The world slid to black as she slumped to the floor.

Evatos had taken cover upon seeing Jennae break free from the stasis. Now, she started towards Miranda to make sure the doctor was alright. Miranda had hit her head, and was apparently unconscious. Standing now, she turned to the injured asari commando. "Good work. She'll think I'm at least not the only threat now. It'll keep her off balance." Evatos said, pulling some medi-gel out to begin killing the pain.

Jennae spat at the asari agent. "Yeah, well, you didn't get tortured by the crazy bitch."

"Well, why'd you let her do that? I know very well that your little demonstration could have been done at any time." Evatos said, cleaning the elbow damage first.

"Her initial jump was a bit more than I had expected..." Jennae admitted, gritting her teeth as Evatos did work on her blown joint. "Why don't we just kill her and be done with it, again? Aethyta never said anything against it..." Jennae sucked in quickly as the cool gel was slathered on the injuries.

"I still need her expertise. Besides, there is a chance, no matter how small, that she might join the asari." Evatos said, helping the commando towards a nearby ship.

Pushing the agent off, Jennae smirked. "Don't you think she'll find it a bit suspicious that I'm not dead, or that she isn't? Especially after what just happened?"

"Don't worry. I have a plan." Evatos said, shooing the injured asari off. "Go nurse your hurts and collect your payment. The Matriarchs never fall short of a deal." With that, Jennae's person flier took her out of the hanger. Rubbing her hands together, Evatos muttered to herself "Now to finish this..."

* * *

**Athame's Embrace**

Liara and Aethyta had spent the morning relaxing and preparing to visit Shepard. Liara felt herself physically shaking in anticipation as they stepped out of the elevator and began down the hall to her room. "I wonder how she is doing..." Liara said absently, her hand sneaking into Aethyta's for comfort.

Aethyta stumbled slightly in her stride as Liara's hand snaked into hers. "I... I'm sure she is just fine, Little Wing." she said quietly, unsure of how to react to the gesture. "You've done what you could. The rest is up to her."

Nearing Shepard's room, Liara could hear voices from inside the room. "Someone else must be visiting... Maybe we should come back later?" Liara suggested, already starting to turn. Anxiety had been building in her more and more as they had arrived at the hospital, and now she felt herself grabbing at any out she could.

Aethyta ignored the idea and dragged Liara along, entering the room as if they had heard nothing. Inside was Steve Cortez, Javik, Garrus and James Vega. Liara hesitated for a moment as she stood in the doorway. She had not been near any of the crew for nearly an entire week, and it felt odd to see them back in reality, instead of through Jessica's memories. She heard a laugh from somewhere else in the room; one that did not belong to any of the other people inside the room. Except, maybe...

"Ohhh... Vega... Don't make me laugh. It still hurts." Liara heard come from the bed.

"Sorry Lola... Sorry. Just. Shit... I'm glad you're alright, Shepard." James said, shifting weight from his left to right leg.

"Think of it as payback, Shepard. I seem to remember you forcing me into fits after a certain set of scars were given to me." Garrus quipped in, which elicited another tortured laugh from Jessica.

"Alright, alright. I surrender." Jess said in mock defeat, struggling to lift her hands up in front of her. Her face seemed full of concentration and exertion as she did so, and she finally let the limbs fall back down, a look of annoyance tracing her face, as well as weariness.

"Anyway... Like I was saying Shepard, after crash landing, back on Earth, I got picked up by some of the resistance and taken to one of the safe zones. Wrex, Victus, Javik, and Coats all made it to the same camp. Lucky me, right? Got placed on the first shuttle back. I'll never forgive myself for endangering you in that stupid fly-by..." Steve said solemnly. Liara felt he was taking the whole thing a bit harder than was perhaps correct... The man had done more than most to ensure Shepard's safety on countless occasions.

Jessica was apparently of the same mind, shaking her head meekly at the rebuke Cortez had given himself. "Steve... You gotta let it go. We all got out alive, and I know you did everything you could, and then did more, just to help me out. I couldn't have asked for a better shuttle pilot."

Steve stepped back slightly, a chagrined look on his face despite her reassurance, and looked anywhere but her eyes. "The commander is correct. **You** followed your commands to the end and did more than was expected, Steve Cortez." Javik quipped, his eyes lingering on Shepard oddly. "When told what to do, and promising to follow through on certain actions... **You** didn't fall short." Javik voice was gaining in volume now, almost with an accusatory note. It seemed he was directing the tone at Shepard, although he was speaking with Steve.

"Right... Ok, fools. Make room." Aethyta announced, bringing attention from the bed to the door suddenly. Liara blushed slightly as she was dragged forward and suddenly standing next to Jessica's bed.

"Liara!" Garrus nearly shouted. "We've been wondering where you were! Tali and Ashley wanted to talk with you!"

Liara nodded slightly, her eyes now fixated on Jessica's. They were the most complexing mix of blue and grey... Liara felt herself getting lost more then ever before, and she reached up to her own head to remind herself she did not have hair. Jessica missed the gesture, but seemed equally as entranced in Liara. "When did you... uhh... Hey there, Liara..." Jessica said, sounding breathless.

Liara felt tears come unbidden. "'Hey there?' Is that all? You just say these things..." Liara said, kneeling down by the bed and grabbing Jessica's hand.

"I'm... uhh... well, we're not exactly alone..." Shepard said, looking at the others.

"Right... Hey, Vega, Javik, Cortez, have you guys seen the shooting range? There's a fantastic assortment of weapons, and the weapons bench? Best set of tools to calibrate with I've ever seen." Garrus said, herding the others out of the room. Aethyta followed behind them and shut the door, standing guard outside.

"I was so afraid... When you left me on the Normandy... When you went back into the fighting..." Liara said, feeling herself choke up suddenly.

"Shhh-sh-sh. It's OK, Blue Bird..." Jessica said, weakly stroking the asari's head crests. "I'm sorry to have scared you like that... again... But... I had to... The war..."

"I know. I just... I just want to settle down for a moment... to not be in constant conflict..." Liara said, a strong pleading entering her voice.

"If I could promise that, I would, Liara." Jessica said. Falling back into her pillow, she started to cough. The motion looked painful as it wracked from her chest down her torso. Eyes watering, Jess looked back over at Liara. "Looks like I beat myself up pretty badly this time, eh?"

Liara giggled slightly, despite herself. "You always manage to do as much as you can in one leap, don't you Jess?" Her hand shot up to Jessica's hair, and began to stroke it.

Jessica sighed pleasantly. "Y'know... I thought I might give up, and just not fight to live anymore... But... I felt you nearby. I kept seeing your face in my dreams, my head... my memories. Weird, right? But I guess it made me wanna fight, to do the struggle to get back up."

Liara's stroking stuttered for a moment. "Jess... I need to..."

"No. Wait. I just... I need to try and explain something to you... I understand if you don't accept it... Hell, it took me a while to... But... I have to tell you, or it will eat away at me. I... The reapers... Uhm..." Jessica paused, seeming to be unsure how to continue.

"They... aren't gone. Right? Just... Changed?" Liara supplied.

"Yes... That... That's right. How did you...?" Jessica asked, confusion now evident on her face.

"When you thought I was in your head... your dreams and memories... I was..." Liara said, bringing Jessica's hand up to her mouth and giving it a slight kiss. "I... Aethyta told me about an old asari tradition... A meld more exposing than the typical, modern day variety. She taught me how to do it, and suggested that we try it on you. So... I did... And it let me live your entire life through your memories in just a few hours... I saw you grow up, your rise in the Alliance, your... intimacies... and your failings. Finally, I saw the choices as they were presented to you on the Crucible..." Liara was now burying her face against Jessica's side, hoping the human wouldn't reject her in disgust for invading her mind.

"I... uhm... I mean... Did you... Do you..." Jessica stammered, unable to phrase her questions.

"I love you Jessica. I can accept your choice, even if it scares me. I just want to be with you... so much..." Liara said, hugging the trembling human loosely.

"I..." Jessica started, feeling tears come up. Her throat felt sore as she became overwhelmed with emotion; happiness chief amongst them. "Thank you, Liara." she said quietly, returning the hug in full vigor, sighing out in pain as she pushed herself beyond her weakened limits to hold the asari tightly to her.

Liara panicked as Jessica drifted out of consciousness suddenly. "Aethyta! Dad! Help me... Someone!"

The door swung open quickly and Chakwas flew to the bed. A team of doctors followed her in and Liara was herded out of the room. Shouting incoherently at Jessica, Liara clasped onto Aethyta as they sat on a bench outside the room, and began to cry fearfully. _'What have I done...'_ Liara thought to herself.

* * *

Jessica felt herself slipping out of consciousness, but not dangerously. She was dimly aware of a rush of activity in the room as her senses went into basic functions. The nanites in her bloodstream went into overdrive to ensure that no lasting damage was done.

_'So worth it..._' Jessica said, a mental smile breaking out. Jessica wanted to shout for joy. Liara had said yes to her. Had seen everything she had ever done wrong, and said yes anyway. Jessica felt the last clasping shackles of her time with Tess fall off and, for the first time, felt truly excited to wake up. No fear bound her, and she felt new vigor enter her to recover as soon as possible.

_'I'm comin, Blue Bird... Just you wait and see...'_ Jessica thought happily, a humming tune washing over her mind as she gave herself up to rest.

* * *

Chakwas exited the room thirty minutes later, a relieved look on her face. Liara got up and looked at the doctor, slightly suspicious. "Don't worry, Liara. She only passed out. It wasn't your fault... You know how Shepard gets better than any of us; she pushed herself too hard and too long. She's just exhausted, most of her energy is being funneled into the recovery."

"Is that all, Dr. Chakwas?" Liara said, a slight edge from their last encounter entering her voice.

Chakwas blanched at the tone slightly. "Liara... I know I wasn't upfront with you before... But... There were good reasons. Will you stay mad like this forever, or allow me some forgiveness?"

"That depends... Can you tell me what happened before?" Liara said, hedging a bit.

Chakwas sighed, shaking her head. "No... But... Follow me to the lab, and I'll show you."

Liara and Aethyta followed Chakwas down the hall, and Liara felt anticipation grip her.

* * *

**Nos Arium Spaceport**

Miranda groaned as she picked herself off the ground. Looking around, there was a trail of asari blood leading towards a now empty ship dock. Miranda rubbed her head. "What happened..." she muttered, the taste of iron strong in her mouth. Spitting to the side, a large globule of rust-colored mucus streamed out. Miranda rubbed her chin, feeling a gash along her right jawline and a trail of dried blood leading to her head. _'That explains my dizziness, I suppose...'_ Miranda thought to herself. Reaching her feet, she did a quick scan of the room. The hanger looked empty, except for another prone body over by the doors. "Evatos?" Miranda shouted out lazily, as she started moving towards the body.

Reaching the asari, she saw large biotic bruising up ad down the asari. "Looks like that commando really fucked us both up..." Miranda muttered. Sliding into place along the wall, she pulled up her omni-tool. Neither of them were in decent enough shape to reliably get help, so Miranda was going to call for help. Accessing the phone portion of the tool, a malfunction struck, and the tool short circuited before shutting down. _'Dammit...'_ Miranda silently shouted. Her eyelids started to slide a bit. "Maybe... a nap... will help..." she said quietly, a yawn over taking her voice. Inside her mind, Miranda was shouting at herself _'Stay awake! You need to stay awake!'_ but she didn't care. As sleep took over, she began to dream of the Normandy. She remembered the first time she had arrived with Shepard on the Citadel; being able to step off the ship without any worries of her ties to Cerberus...

* * *

Evatos waited a bit to make sure Miranda was fully asleep. Getting up, she hobbled towards the snoozing human. It had been difficult, but Evatos had been able to administer the sleep agent just as Miranda was starting to recover, and still make it to her spot for the "discovery". The asari Evatos had paid to hit herself with biotics had done too good of a job; Evatos had resigned after she and Lawson were 'recovered' that she was going to have them visited - to help them understand why that had been a mistake. Once she arrived at her destination, Evatos set off some remote charges to add some atmosphere. Miranda probably hadn't noticed the smoke and flaming ships in the docks, but it would be in the background of the memory, and that was all Evatos needed.

Now that the human was knocked out, Evatos accessed Miranda's omni-tool, re-enabling it. She put on her best distressed look, and connected to Chakwas.

"Evatos? Where are you two? There's been a development!" Chakwas said hurriedly.

"Sorry, doctor. We were waylaid by some of the Eclipse. They got us pretty bad. We need a medical team sent to dock 24." Evatos said, managing to sound weak and beaten.

"What? I'll come myself!" Chakwas offered.

Evatos froze. The staging would fool a person that was only partially conscious, but someone fully awake. No... Chakwas couldn't find out; Evatos had control of the medical dispatch already, they'd keep quiet, but Chakwas would share with Miranda, and suspicion would arise. "No... You said there was a... development? We'll need you to keep it dealt with. Send a team, we'll be alright."

"Alright..." Chakwas replied, looking exceptionally concerned.

"Thanks. I'll keep in touch!" Evatos ended the call, and slumped next to Miranda. "Now we just have to wait..." Evatos said, sighing a bit as she tried to relax while waiting.


	10. Ch9: Timendi Causa ast Nescire

**A/N: **Hey! Sorry for the massively late update. My laptop met with an ancient nemesis, gravity, and the hard drive became a casualty about ten days ago. With it went a lot of my story planning as well as this chapter. Ah well, now I have a better back up system in place.

Onwards to story! In this chapter, we see time start to move a bit faster as small steps lead to larger things. Kind of an in between chapter, but super fun to organize and write. Caution: snark is present in some aspects of this chapter :) You have been warned.

One thing to note, in my timeline the Reaper war went from about mid June to December, according to an Earth calender. That puts the Crucible around mid-December, and three weeks later to around January. That's where I'm getting these dates for the week. Also, not sure if I like this whole dates thing, it is kind of a test run of sorts. Would appreciate knowing if it helped frame the chapter better or not.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Labs  
[January 4th, 2687]**

Chakwas began sending electrical pulses through the sample she was working on. Evatos, watchful as ever, hovered over Chakwas's shoulder and watched the test. The magnification showed a similar start to the test as before; large, sudden activity in the small nanite set, followed by massive failure as the nanites seemingly realized they were in a severed portion. Chakwas sighed, and readied the equipment again, as Evatos groaned slightly and leaned backwards.

"I thought you said this was going to work, Chakwas..." Evatos said, irritation obvious in her voice. Chakwas was not so sure the asari was annoyed with her, so much as the sling her left arm was in after her outing with Miranda.

"Evatos, you know as well as I that these things take time. We must be wary, vigilant, prepared to fail." Chakwas chastised.

Evatos did not seem coddled, but she stopped complaining, deciding instead to groan and move away from the terminal as Chakwas reset again. Chakwas only smiled. Sometimes, the youth of asari showed through to her even when they were as old as Evatos, who looked to be around four to five hundred years. Despite all those centuries of experience, the asari doctor still was as impatient as a mid-thirties, early forties human, and it amused Chakwas greatly.

Looking over at Miranda, Chakwas noticed her own concentration on her tests was not as focused as it had been prior to the incident. The young geneticist seemed absolutely distracted, even disorientated. "Is there anything wrong, Miranda?" Chakwas asked, wanting to offer some help.

"No... No. Just... headaches." Miranda paused, reaching to rub the wrap on her head from the attack. "I've... nothing to report as of yet, but thanks for asking Karin." Chakwas still wasn't clear on the incident, but both of them had come back from looking for the missing data badly injured from biotic fields. Now, both would hardly talk about it. Evatos had been especially strange when they had called in for help, refusing to allow Chakwas to come out personally.

"Are we ready to go, Chakwas?" Evatos asked hurriedly, as if trying to get her focused back on the project at hand.

"Almost, Evatos. Almost." Chakwas said, turning back to her own tests. They were attempting to mimic the electrical signals Shepard's brain would send to synaptic gaps to give commands to the nanites. So far, they had had little success, but Chakwas felt it had to work eventually. The scans she had taken indicated this was how they had been working inside Shepard.

"And you are sure, Chakwas? We don't need to look for anything else? Just march forward?" Evatos inquired, obvious doubt still on her face.

"I'm never perfectly sure, but this is what makes the most sense." Chakwas replied, beginning the next set of pulses. Doubt, however, was starting to creep into her, as well.

* * *

Miranda rubbed her head again. She looked at her results, astonishment in her eyes, and then began the data transfer to her omni-tool. This discovery was too great... The DNA tests had come back with a 99.972% match to previous samples. That .028% difference was exactly the same across all samples; Human, Asari, Turian... all organic matter had a deviation from their old results pre-Battle of Earth and post-Battle of Earth. What was more, the difference was identical across every species. Whatever had changed in humanity had identically changed in asari, turian, salarian, everything. It was as if someone had gone into the genetic make-up and altered all the galaxy in one, swift motion.

Miranda knew Chakwas would benefit greatly in her tests from this information. But sharing with her consigned the information immediately to Evatos, whom Miranda still did not trust. She rubbed her head again. Something about that incident in the hanger was... off... At any rate, she couldn't let the asari get their hands on this. This would be her own, pet project. Wiping the results of her tests in the terminal, she reset the data to show perfect matches. Once everything was edited and hidden appropriately, Miranda set herself up for the finale.

* * *

Miranda sighed. "I'm sorry, Karin. There is... nothing. The test is a failure. I... didn't want to admit it until I was sure..." Miranda sat back, looking defeated.

Chakwas looked over at her, and then at the terminal. "Let me see." she said, quietly moving over to look over the data quickly.

Evatos smirked inwardly. It had been the correct move to stop hovering over that flopping 'specialist' and start working on Chakwas instead. The Alliance doctor was obviously the more useful tool. Evatos was only waiting for the reply on her reports from the Matriarchs to pull the trigger and give the offer designed for Miranda to Chakwas, instead.

"Everything... looks the same." Chakwas said, a bit of disbelief in her voice. "How... unexpected..."

"Yes..." Miranda replied. "I... I think I'll go back to my apartment, try to think of something new to push into, some new test to run."

"Alright, dear. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will, Chakwas. Thank you. Evatos."

Evatos nodded in acknowledgement as Miranda left the lab. Turning back to the terminal, she awaited Chakwas to continue this bizarre experiment again.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Physical Therapy Ward**

Jess struggled to walk forward on the treadmill. Her asari physical therapist, Dr. Loran, was smiling encouragingly at her through the glass wall. Jess gripped the bars on either side and forcefully took another step forward, grunting in frustration at the effort she had to put forth to do such simple tasks. It had been two days since she had regained consciousness. Two days since she had passed out from pure exertion hugging Liara. After regaining consciousness again, Jess had demanded a regimen for regaining physical mobility. Chakwas had hesitated, obviously looking for colleagues to get opinions from, so Jess had forced her hand by repetitively trying to stand, which only succeeded in making a mess of the room every few hours, yesterday.

Chakwas had been forced to assign a physical therapist to Jess, but added a nutritionist in as well. The salarian, Dr. Salk, had immediately taken the result of Chakwas's most recent scans and tissue samples and developed a calorie demand chart for Jess. Whereas the average human required two-thousand calories a day to operate, and added on to that if they were physically active on a regular basis, Jess was apparently in need of three-thousand as a base, due mostly to the nanites now swarming through her body. The little hitch hikers were apparently big eaters. Jess had asked for all the ups and downs of the nanites from Chakwas, but the answer had been far from what she had expected. It looked like the little bugs were able to over charge her bodily systems but, beyond theories, Chakwas was unsure what they could do, exactly. Jess had agreed without being asked to submit to any tests Chakwas thought necessary. She needed to know what exactly was going on.

Today was the first day of recovery. Jess wasn't looking to regain full mobility in any record amount of time - she knew better than that - but she wanted to be mobile enough to get out of the hospital. The place was so... sterile... not to mention it's removal from the crew of the Normandy, especially Liara. Grunting more heavily, Jess took a few more steps before the session finished. Dr. Loran headed around the wall to set up the next set of tests while Dr. Salk came in with a nutrient mix he had prepared for the exercises. Jess sighed. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Nos Arium: Consumer District**

Liara had awoken in another cold sweat this morning, clutching her stomach and screaming at the imagined pain of being shot. One of Jessica's war memories had terrorized her in her sleep, as they and other memories had in each of Liara's sleeping hours since the deep-meld. Aethyta had become more tense, breaking into the room in the middle of the night at the slightest outburst. This morning, the matriarch had seemingly had enough.

"Alright Liara. It's been two whole days since you last spoke with that girl of yours. You need to begin the process of letting her into your memories. Until you do, this connection is going to be overbalanced in her favor, and you'll keep giving me heart-attacks whenever you sleep." Aethyta said, a stern and unwavering look falling across her face.

Liara had only nodded meekly, and gotten ready for the day. How? How was that supposed to work? Jessica couldn't meld, only accept a meld... Liara walked down the street towards the cafe she had chosen to meet with Sam and Feron at, her eyes fluctuating from deep black pools to the normal blue irises. Her head pounded as she arrived at the door and entered the cafe.

"Liara!" A familiar british accent called to her. Looking about, as if waking from a daze, she pinpointed Sam and Feron at a circle table towards the middle of the floor.

"Is everything alright, Liara?" Feron asked. As usual, the drell was very perceptive to her emotions.

"I just... Headache, that is all. Thank you, Feron." Liara said, shooing him back to his seat as he got up to help her. She squinted a bit, trying to get her eyes under control, before looking at the two of them. "Whats the report, so far? It's been a rather relaxing week of no distress calls."

Feron smiled lightly, his hand falling on Sam's shoulder with a relaxed ease. "There have been massive improvements in efficiency, Liara. Miss Traynor and I have been able to hunt down leads much easier together, thanks indefinitely to your suggestions."

Sam seemed to blush slightly, but kept her gaze on Liara. "Yes, we've made inroads on the Matriarch Council, Turian Hierarchy, and many of the Salarian Dalatrass. There is... A disturbing trend, however, amongst all races, and most predominant in the human Alliance." Sam hesitated, waiting for Liara to acknowledge this. Liara nodded, and the analyst continued.

"It seems each race feels there is more to gain from separate consolidations of power, rather then to rebuild the galactic whole. The asari, with the most damaged reputation coming out of the war, look to be losing ground slowly, while the salarians seem to be maintaining what they had. The turians are making the first moves, but everyone seems to be hinging on humanity, as they gained the most prestige from the war. Hackett's most recent display of passive moderation suggests a return to the old. However... Things on the home front beg to differ."

"What is happening in Earth's political sphere?" Liara asked, finally distracted from her other thoughts enough to properly focus.

"There... seems to be a slight movement on the outside of the traditional parties. At the moment, it doesn't seem to have much power, but there has been a concerted effort to avoid our agents. All we know currently is that the new group is very much human-centric, like Terra Firma from after the First Contact War. The admiralty in the Alliance navy seem very opposed to them, but a growing undertone of public thought is in their favor. They could upset the delicate balance that is settling across the Galaxy before it can cement."

Liara sighed. As always, humanity was moving quickly, and obtusely, to the Galactic whole. "Right, I want you to focus attentions on the other races. Especially the Geth, Krogan, and Quarians. After their efforts in the war, I am expecting attempts to be admitted to the council. We will want to guarantee that they fall in line with tradition, rather than radicalism. I'll focus my personal resources on Earth."

Sam and Feron nodded in unison, and began immediately to draw up plans for infiltration. Liara leaned back on her seat, her headaches setting in once again. _'I need to talk to Aethyta...'_ Liara thought to herself, wincing visibly as another memory brushed her focus.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Physical Therapy Ward  
****[January 5th, 2687]**

Javik exited the elevator. Despite the likeness to his peoples buildings, he still felt a slight disdain for the architecture of this cycle. Cycle... Was it really over? No... Not based on what he had found on Earth... Javik felt his ire rise again. Shepard had betrayed them. He knew now why the Reapers weren't gone, weren't cowed to the heels of those still living.

His pace quickened as he entered the room the asari at the front desk had told him she would be in. Green biotic energy crackled about him as he tore into the room, pushing aside the salarian and asari standing in front of him. Looking through the glass wall, he saw Shepard. She was struggling to hold herself up, but her movements looked like a soldier pressing through injury.

He slammed his fist into the wall, and a cracked sprang to life. Plying biotic fields into the opening, he shoved the wall open, shattering the rest of it. Shepard gasped aloud, falling to her hands and knees and was thrown off the treadmill.

"Javik, what the hell was that?" Shepard shouted weakly, struggling to get up.

"You! You betrayed us all! You let them live! You denied my people their last vengeance! I should kill you for this. I should rip you apart. Look at you. Hardly able to stand. It would be a waste of my time to kill something so feeble!" Javik roared, picking Shepard up with a lift.

"What do you mean, Javik? The reapers have retreated! We won!" Shepard said, gasping slightly for breath.

"I found... memory shards on Earth. From my people. Our scientists were experimenting with a commingling so as to benefit from the reapers. They... discarded the idea... said it was improbable and uncertain. We wanted them dead. When the reapers weren't found in piles, I wondered as to what you had done. This answers that."

Javik was shaking now. A millennium of hatred and more had been piled into him. "Javik... Look at the memory. Look at what I chose to do. You will understand, as I did, and as Liara does..." Shepard said, now proffering a hand to him.

Javik looked at the human. Even helpless, she seemed in control of the moment. He felt her words. Felt their worth. "Fine. We will look, and we will see, Shepard."

Grasping her hand, Javik's sight disappeared, replaced by Shepard's emotions and memories. They sat in front of each other, sharing in the memory of the final moments on the crucible.

* * *

**Nos Arium: Temporary Alliance Headquarters  
****[January 6th, 2687]**

Hackett arrived at his office a bit earlier. Today, the Earth Systems Republics would officially declare a permanent council member. Hackett smiled slightly, the feeling at having out maneuvered the Humanists spreading through him. Despite his cliche hatred of politicians, he found a certain... militaristic quality in being able to crush an opponent without risking anything himself. Major Coats was the favored member, thanks to Hackett's plying and suggestions. There was little doubt that the second in command to Anderson would win councilship.

Sitting at his desk, Hackett turned to view the proceedings. Alliance News Network, ever since their agent, Diana Allers, had been on the Normandy, was the go to news source for Earth. Westerlund News, on the other hand was falling behind, based primarily on their humanist standpoint, which was not the popular opinion at the moment.

Nodding at a passing corporal, Hackett smiled. "This is going to be a good day for the Galaxy." He said quietly to himself, leaning back slightly as the votes were counted.

* * *

Major Coats laid back on his bed in his private compartment. Today was the day that all of the charades ended. Humanity would once again have a strong leader in their council spot, a fitting replacement for Udina. Coats smiled openly as the final votes trickled in. It was nearly unanimous, he was to be the new Council member for humanity.

An encrypted comm came in over his omni-tool. Answering, he struggled to push down his joy that the plan had moved forward appropriately. "Yes, sir?"

"Coats. Your position is guaranteed. We must move with phase two. Humanity needs to stand strong in the Galaxy. We cannot appear weak anymore."

"I understand, sir. No ground will be lost."

"Good. Resources are being moved into position to assume full control. Bide your time until then. Hadley, out."

Coats composed himself. He would have to go and meet with the other councilors soon. First however, a victory meeting with Hackett was in order. Hadley wouldn't mind.

* * *

Hackett pulled out a fifteen-year scotch, and two glasses. Coats sat in front of him, dressed to take office and assume his new duties. It was a good day for humanity, that much Hackett was sure of. Still... something felt off. Coats looked like a cat surveying prey, more than a grateful or anticipatory winner. Pouring the glasses, Hackett smiled and toasted, "To the future!"

Coats seemed to wince at the toast slightly, drinking with him. "Yes. A future where humanity stands tall among the stars."

"Yes, with the council. We owe them a great deal, Coats. It is an honor to pass the rights to you."

"Do we though, sir?"

"Do we what?" Hackett asked, slightly confused.

"Owe the council? What have they done for humanity, besides ignore us and our warnings?" Coats said, getting up to pace.

"We didn't listen ourselves, Coats. Shepard will say as much."

"Right... Except... Shepard ran away, as I recall..."

"Under orders, from your commanding officer himself." Hackett countered.

"Semantics. If she had wanted to fight, she would have stayed. Look at what she did to end the war! The reapers still exist! Wasn't the crucible supposed to destroy them?" Coats said, a fervor entering his voice.

"Shepard did more for the war effort than any single person, alive or dead, Coats. Don't you dare slander her name with these suggestions. The reapers have been neutralized. They aren't attacking, they aren't even making contact. She did her job."

"We. Will. Have. To. Disagree." Coats said, biting each word off in Hackett's face. Placing the glass firmly on the table, Coats exited the room.

"Son of a bitch..." Hackett muttered to himself. He had thought Coats to have been more moderate. Hell, after interviewing the man himself, that was how it had seemed. _'The kid is one hell of an actor...'_ Hackett thought to himself. Putting his own drink down, he collected some files and started for the hall. The other councilors needed to be briefed on the internal issues of Earth.

* * *

**Nos Arium: Temporary Council Hall**

Hackett entered the council hall and quickly scanned the room. Coats had still not arrived. _'Good. He's at least complacent.'_ Hackett mused. Heading towards the council seats, he saw Tevos and Sparatas in heated discussion. '_These two need to make up, now...'_ Hackett grimaced. This was going to be quite the feat.

Walking up to the two councilors, Hackett immediately caught on to the current discussion. "Well, Councilor Tevos, it isn't the galaxies fault that the asari decided so late that they still needed us... younger races."

"I've told you repetitively, Sparatas, that is not how we viewed the issue. We merely saw no benefit in joining arms when the foe was so far off. It was an obvious miscalculation, and we have paid the price. Do we now owe the Galaxy reparations to prove it still further?"

"That wasn't of my choosing but, then again, neither was deferring to the _human_ in Galactic defense releases, which have traditionally been a Turian responsibility. That it did not turn out for you as you would have liked is of no concern to me. Besides, the issue isn't what is fair, it is how we trust. You have used the Turians for centuries as the strong arm of the council and yet, when we needed you most, as Palaven **burned**, where did help come from? The humans. The _krogans_. The asari? No. I do not feel sympathy that asari interests are waning, just as the asari were content to sit and watch the galaxy burn about them."

"That is enough." Hackett sounded sternly. "I have a much more pressing problem then the hurt egos of those who survived."

"Ah... Admiral Hackett. I had heard that Earth was sending us a new representative. One that would be possibly more receptive of our offers for a less... costly resolution to the asari and their... less than composed actions during the war." Tevos said warily.

"Those in the Alliance with power want the same thing. Unfortunately... A slip on my part has robbed us of that outcome, I'm afraid." Hackett admitted ruefully. A radical mindset, very much on the fringe in Terran politics, has gotten through our screening. The candidate being sent to Council is of their numbers."

"Major Coats? Primarch Victus was very pleased to hear of his candidacy and victory. Surely there has been a mistake, Admiral." Sparatas said.

"He is quite good at masking his true intent. The radicals are very much xenophobes, and want human supremacy. As far as I am aware, none are in the upper echelon of Alliance politics, as of yet. The only man I have any doubts on, Admiral Hadley, has been quiet in recent months due to the war. I very much doubt he has the power base to succeed at such subterfuge."

"Just how bad could this be? I doubt, after Udina, that humanities councilor could be too difficult to handle." Tevos suggested.

"There have been terrorist attacks in fringe colonies and other showings of force. They know they cannot deal with the Alliance military, so they run and hide when we arrive to clean up the mess. At the moment, I have the Navy spread to breaking keeping Earth's colonies safe from within. It has been tiring handling these internal machinations as well as tracking the reapers, but Earth's leaders wanted the issue hidden."

"More secrets. How can we ever be allies. First the asari nearly rip the Galaxy apart with their stubbornness, then the humans allow political decay to threaten reconstruction. Perhaps the council has run its course...?" Sparatas said, obviously annoyed.

"As I remember, a certain race left a certain device on Tuchanka that could have thrown the Krogan support out of the war entirely." Hackett noted. Sparatas took the hint, and his demeanor immediately shifted. "From now on, we must deal together. We cannot be of split mind at this time. The Galaxy needs unity."

"Aye... So what is the plan of action?" Tevos said, an impressed smirk on her face as she watched Hackett wheel through the political jabs.

* * *

**Nos Arium: Consumer District  
****[January 7th, 2687]**

Liara approached the table that Ashley and Joker were sitting at. Smiling, she winced as yet another of Jessica's memories briefly touched her consciousness. Despite having been living with Aethyta, Liara had not bumped into the Matriarch for the last few days. It was odd that her father would not stop by her own home, or any of her favorite haunts. Liara had been dropping in on less then happy spots trying to catch the gruff Matriarch out in the open. _'Ah well... She wouldn't leave me after all of this,'_ Liara thought to herself, '_At least... I hope not...'_

Ashley waved. "Hey Liara, hows it been?"

"Just... catching up with my father." Liara said while attempting to banish the headaches.

"So... I heard that Shepard is up and moving again...?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, and that Javik went and blew the place up." Joker added. "Crazy popsicle man finally had a cold snap." he added, chuckling.

"What?" Laira said, confusion obvious on her face.

"Oh... You hadn't heard. Yeah, Javik walked in all terminator-like and said something about how Shepard had promised him a different future. Then he shattered some glass and they settled on the floor to hold hands. It was all _very_ romantic." Joker laughed a bit. "As usual, the commander told us to leave him be. She seems to like it when her crew points guns at her, or attacks her with biotic fields." Ashley fidgeted slightly, and Joker cried out in pain. "Hey. No kicking. Brittle bones, here."

"Then don't say stupid shit, Joker." Ashley said, kicking him again.

"So... I don't understand. Shepard's alright?" Liara asked, worry replacing the initial confusion.

"Yeah. Javik seemed really... quiet? after his kumbaya with Shepard." Ashley said. "He left the hospital peacefully and settled in his compartment to think. No one has heard from him in a day."

Tali and EDI joined the rest of them, and server dropped by the table. Ashley, Joker, and Tali ordered drinks, while Liara merely shook her head no and sat quietly, thinking on what she had learned. _'Every time I focus on one thing, everything else explodes...'_ she moaned inwardly.

"Hello. Liara. Hey, there, we're all over here, in real time." Ashley quipped, shaking her slightly.

Liara rubbed her forward slightly, "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

"Well... Tali was just informing us of news from Rannoch. It seems that the Geth and Quarians are leaping forward in technology exceedingly quickly. The individuality Legion gave to the Geth has allowed them to conquer many sets of advances in what would seem to be no time at all." EDI said, catching Liara up.

"Yes. The Geth have most helpful to our people. At this rate, they will have updated our immune systems within the next few months to be strong enough to live on Rannoch. From there, we will only put the suits on for parts of the day to allow them to further manipulate the inoculations until we no longer need them even when we leave the home world." Tali seemed to beam with excitement.

"And how has our newest Spectre been doing?" Joker added, still reaching down to rub his shins.

"It's alright... With the Galaxy still picking up from the Reaper War, I haven't been given any orders, although I pin that more on Hackett permanently locking my feet to Thessia until Shepard is well again. I haven't had to deal with the new councilor, yet, but I hear he's a good guy. Won't mess with the balance Hackett has tried to build, at least."

Liara piqued slightly at this. "Who, exactly, was the new human councilor, again?"

"Oh... uhm... I think it was that Major Coats guy, from Earth? The one Anderson was with when he picked Shepard, Garrus, and you up off that roof top?"

Liara nodded, making a note for later. "Right. He seemed nice enough."

EDI shook her head. "No. The last time I was in his presence, I detected high levels of Catecholamines. These chemicals are most often released during points of fight-or-flight, or when a person is anxious due to a situation they have been placed in. They are often excreted in abundance when someone is lying. I very much doubt Councilor Coats was very honest with any of us."

"Pffft. We met him during the war, and there has been no end to the difficulties of the Galaxy since that ended," Joker said. "The guy is probably just stressed."

"No, Jeff. I really must insist that his body language did not read towards outward motions of non-personal stress. Coats very much seemed self-absorbed in his stress, as if the slightest misstep would alert his enemies to his presence."

"Alright then," Ashley said with a weird look on her face, "Remind me to not let EDI scan me when we talk, or we might think I'm a secret villain as well."

"Please, Ashley. Based on our previous correspondence and your body language, I would obvious note that you were merely anxious to see old friends, or worrying that you might misstep your societal bounds. Really, you must not assume things so hastily after all. No, based on accurate and detailed analysis, I feel Councilor Coats is not to be trusted. Do what you will with my critique. It is merely an opinion."

Liara picked up on EDI's tone of voice, as well as word usage, immediately. There was something... organic in quality to her behavior. Just as she was about to ask about it, Joker spoke up. "Since when have you valued opinion over fact, EDI?"

"Since Shepard allowed me to, Jeff."

Ashley moaned slightly at the cheesy line, but now Tali was looking at EDI oddly as well. "The Geth on Rannoch have been showing oddly... organic traits in their words, behaviors, and decisions. Have you noticed anything different about EDI, Joker?"

"I'm sitting right here," EDI said in protest, "If you have a question regarding my functionality, you can just ask me."

"That about sums it up, Tali." Joker said, leaning away from EDI's chair.

"I do not know what you are referring towards, Jeff. I have not changed at all since Shepard helped me gain my individuality."

"Yeah. About that. How did she, exactly? Was it, like, upgrading your core processors, or what?" Joker said, laughing slightly.

EDI seemed to flounder slightly. If she could, Liara thought she would be blushing at this point. "I don't know, Jeff. There are memories from before the individuality, and then there are memories after. How does not seem to be in either subset. All I know is that Shepard is the cause."

"The Geth seem to say something similar," Tali noted. "Although, after watching what Shepard allowed Legion to do on Rannoch, I'm not as shocked at their admittance of this. Shepard did, quite literally, allow them to achieve it."

"Look, we're not here to talk about robot feelings," Ashley said. "We're here to drink and catch up on each others lives. Whats been going on with you and EDI, Joker? Brittle bones not holding you back from the robot hanky panky?"

The conversation devolved to quips and less-than-witty one liners from Joker, and Liara began again to dwell on her own thoughts._  
_

* * *

**Nos Arium: Aethyta's Apartment**

Aethyta slumped onto a stool at the kitchen bar. She downed a glass of Ryncol and poured another. "Uhhhh..." she moaned, tired from the last few days.

Aethyta knew she would have to face the Matriarch Council with her decision to reveal and practice the deep-meld on a non-asari, something deemed excessively dangerous after the last known attempt some seven hundred fifty years prior. The last known case had been between a turian and asari couple that had wanted to know each other more thoroughly, but didn't know how to go about it. The Matriarchs' deemed the attempt acceptable, as long as both agreed to and understood the risks involved. What was unknown to them was that the turian that had been brought to them was a decoy, so that the name of the true candidate could remain hidden; for political reasons, of course. The asari maiden attempted the process on the turian scapegoat, and his mind had broken. Not concerned, she took her new found knowledge to her mate, and together they attempted the process in secret. The next day, the Turian Hierarchy was thrown into chaos as the Primarch at the time was found dead in his chambers, his asari lover dead with him from a weapon discharge through her mouth. Suicide, due to killing her beloved. The clean up and hiding of the truth had been a very contentious moment for the Matriarchs', who scapegoated Batarian terrorists, due in no small part to a convenient ship drop from a Batarian transport the night before.

Thus began a series of engagements with Turian and Batarian forces in 1862 GS, which culminated in Turian vessels patrolling trade and asserting a more dominant role as the military wing of the council, a role previously shared between member races. And now, Aethyta had unleashed it yet again on another high ranking member of another species. For the past few days, she had been involving herself in the council, as a result. She needed to reassert her power, call the younger Matriarchs that had once followed her unerringly to, again, come into her fold. Aethyta had been doing what she hated most of all; Politicking.

"Goddess be damned, this stuff needs to be stronger..." she muttered, pouring a seventh glass and gulping it down. Footsteps echoed behind her, and she lazily spun around, erecting a barrier of purple energy around her. "Who is it?" she slurred.

Liara brushed through the poorly held barriers and up to her father. She had an angry look on her face as she stood in front of Aethyta. "It's me, Father. Your daughter? Or did you forget I was here?"

Aethyta smiled slightly, and stumbled to her feet. "Oh! Liara! Great ta see ya!" Leaning on Liara, Aethyta fell forward. "Why donchya... help daddy ta bed, ey?"

Liara sighed. "Alright, father. Lets go."

Aethyta giggled, and swayed with each step Liara helped her take to her room. As she plummeted to her bed, her eyes shut. She never connected with the surface.

* * *

Aethyta growled as the shades on her window were drawn. "Shut that damned thing, you stupid drone." She muttered.

"Sorry father, I'm not really feeling like it." Liara said.

Rolling over to look at the door, Aethyta saw Liara with a cross look on her face. "Little Wing..." she began.

"Don't you Little Wing me. What was that last night? And where have you been? I..." Liara winced slightly and shook her head, "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Oh... this and that. Why, scared I was going to leave you?" Aethyta smiled slightly.

"Hardly," Liara scoffed, "But I've been needing to talk to you. I... The deep-meld has left me..."

Grimacing, Aethyta sat up on the edge of her bed to. "Let me guess... headaches, loss of self, dreams that aren't dreams?"

"I... yes. I can't focus in public, sleep is torturous, and there are moments when I don't know who I am..." Liara said, holding herself across the waist.

"Well... That is to be expected." Aethyta offered a hand to Liara, and led her to the living room.

"What exactly do you mean, expected? You knew this would happen?"

"There is a bit I left out last time. You had so much on your plate... I couldn't let nerves turn you away from this." Aethyta said, sitting Liara down.

"What you said seemed pretty complete to me."

"Well... yes and no. The asari banned deep-melding for a few more reasons than self-serving needs, although only because it would hurt our image if other races knew. When two asari enter into the process... They both draw at each other, pulling the others consciousness into their own stream of thoughts. In effect, each asari swaps bodies for the duration. It works because each person involved can initiate a meld and return to themselves afterwards. In other species... You need a particularly strong sense of self to make it work."

"So, are you telling me that Shepard might be permanently damaged from this?" Liara said, shocked at the hidden risk she had taken.

"No... I think not, anyway. It is part of why I had you do you half of the process first. What you are experiencing is a loss of self. Personality is derived from our own set of morals, codes, beliefs. If you could retain someone so completely that their personality is better understood than your own... well, the mind gets confused as to who it is. And despite our best intentions and hopes, we always hide things from ourselves to make life easier. When the deep-meld occurs, we are forced to evaluate our own lives just as much as our opposites. It balances out, and you become overtly close because you share in each other fully, to the point where minor brushes of her memories don't matter. In a sense, you become one person. At the moment, since only Shepard was fully looked over, she is overly dominant in you mind. It makes her a more realized individual, but ruins your sense of self as a result."

"So... you think I've made her self-aware enough through this to be able to find her way back?" Laira asked, trying to follow the thought.

"Yes. The reverse... It will be harder, Liara. You have to build the channel from yourself to her, for her. Then you must draw on her and let her into your mind. Once she is there, she will have full access to it. There will be nothing hidden."

"But... that sounds normal. Simple, even. What could make it so hard?"

"A normal meld is frontal. You attach to her mind and share in whatever she lets you, while surface thoughts from your side leak over. This type of meld goes deeper. You must penetrate your own defenses to let her in, which is fundamentally difficult. She may be very receptive, but you have to be willing on a subconscious level. Especially considering you must build the channel. In an asari-asari relationship, it is not so hard; both parties can create their own channels. This becomes harder purely based on the fact that you are in control of the conduit, and therefore you must resist closing it off regardless of what she finds."

"Every time we discuss things, father, I feel more worried than when we started..." Liara sighed, "When should we attempt it?"

"That's up to Shepard. Will she be willing, and strong enough, any time soon? I suggest talking to her about it, Liara. I will be here, don't you worry. Just let em know when you plan to attempt, and I will come and help you." Liara sighed again, and left the room. Aethyta's face took a grim expression. "It has to be ok, Little Wing." she whispered to herself.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Physical Therapy Ward  
[January 8th, 2687]**

Liara stood by Dr. Loran as Jessica took a normal walking pace on the treadmill. The asari physical therapist had been gushing at Liara over how fast Jessica had been recovering. Jessica was smiling broadly at the one way mirror, unaware that Liara was on the other side. There was little damage left from the attack Javik had orchestrated. It seemed almost impossible that the Prothean had even been in the room. The only evidence was the one-way mirror - a new addition that was also braced and sturdier than the last window. Liara smiled slightly. She rarely got to surprise Jessica. How would she react?

The thought brought the memory of Jessica's birthday on the SSV Einstein. Liara leaned back on the counter, gripping the edge with one hand and her forehead with the other. Mother was leading her down the hallway. Another two-person birthday. Boring. But... This isn't the right way... Where are all the lights? And then, a sea of noise. So many of the crew. Pilots, marines, the Captain himself. Her breath catches. She looks at mother. Tears well up. She can't speak. Words won't come out.

Liara opens her eyes. Jessica had finished on the treadmill and was moving towards the door. "Ms. Shepard, I really must insist you sit in the wheelchair when not on the equipment." Dr. Loran says as she makes her way towards the door.

"Yeah yeah, Loran. Wheres Salk? Need to make sure I don't break his diet. Last time wasn't much fun." Jessica threw back, settling into the wheelchair for Dr. Loran as she huffed.

"Just because your recovery is moving along well ahead of schedule does not mean we need to take risks, Commander Shepard." the asari complained. "_Dr._ Salk will be down shortly. He was called up to discuss with _Dr._ Chakwas about your diet."

"God dammit. At this rate, I'm going to waste away. See if you can't speed his return, Loran. I'm starved."

"Always so pushy, aren't we Jess?" Liara quipped, unable to stop herself from giggling. She had blown her own cover, but Liara blamed Jessica at least partially for being so obnoxious.

"Liara? I fucking hate that mirror. If I had known you were here... well... I definitely wouldn't of sat in this stupid chair." Jessica said, starting to get up.

"No no no. Doctors orders," Liara said, pushing Jessica back down and nodding at Dr. Loran. "I can take her to her room, if you want some peace, doctor?"

Dr. Loran seemed against the idea. Jessica looked at her slyly, as if ready to be even more obnoxious, and the doctor rethought her position. "I think that sounds wonderful. We all might benefit from a... respite..."

Jessica began to laugh loudly. "I like you a lot, Loran." Looking at Liara a bit, she added, "But don't tell this one, eh?"

Dr. Loran smiled a bit frostily, and nodded at Liara. "She's room..."

"I know, doctor, but thank you. Please, enjoy your time off." Liara said, spinning Jessica's chair around.

"Spoil sport." Jessica pouted, as Liara pushed her to her room.

"Right, she was obviously happy with that arrangement. You know, she is actually trying to help you, right?"

"Yes, mom." Jess strained.

Liara sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Hopefully, lots of things?" Jessica hinted, looking up and winking.

"Nope. Not until you are one hundred percent better."

"Ok, ok. So, what brings you down? Decide to stretch those pretty little wings?" Jessica asked, reaching up and holding Liara's left forearm.

"Well... Yes, actually. I've been a bit cooped up, worried about you," Liara said, giving Jessica's hand a squeeze as she pulled her arm out of the grip, "And also... a bit of business."

"Ooooh. Lemme guess! Big Shadow Broker has a bone to pick with an information broker?" Jessica said, laughing at her own joke.

"No... Little Liara has some big people things to talk to a certain human commander, though, if she's willing to listen."

"What is it?" Jessica said, her attention immediately snapping to.

"Lets wait till we get to the room." Liara suggested.

"Fine..."

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Lab**

Chakwas and Salk settled their most recent discussion about Shepard's health. Evatos was, as usual, taken back by how much seeming no-name scientists were contributing to the understanding of Shepard's recovery. Salk had, through use of Chakwas's scans, found a caloric intake model for Shepard's body with it's new found hitch hikers. In little under a day, Salk had even devised a regiment that he felt would best aid the nanites in staying at the peak of efficiency. Of course, all his findings were experimental, but the implications were apparently massive, according to Chakwas. Her own tests on activating the nanites outside of the body had been meeting similar results to the previous attempt; abject failure after seeming success.

Chakwas had been having Evatos activate electrical signals that coursed through tissue sample after tissue sample, each housing a couple thousand of the nanites. Where she was taking them from Shepard was unknown or,a t least, Shepard's body seemed able to replace the tissue faster than could be fully noticed. Which, of course, played into separate observations Chakwas was taking on the rejuvenation properties of the robotic parasites. Evatos gagged slightly as the most recent test flashed red and the chamber self-ignited to avoid any contamination leaks. The smell of burning flesh had been a constant, but the asari agent still couldn't get over the initial shock of the pungent aroma. Chakwas sighed and cleaned the station. This time, however, she did not replace the sample.

"Alright. I think it is time to approach this slightly differently. Dr Salk, would you be so kind?" Chakwas said, beckoning the salarian over.

"Of course. Yes yes. I see what you are trying. Activation through electrical signal. Rudimentary Good first step. However, have found that nanites actually consume very small amounts of specific compounds, most notably trace amounts of Element Zero. Very hard to get the body to adapt to the inclusion of the element."

"Hrmmm... Yes... I could see that being a problem. Human tissue does not normally have long exposure times with the mineral, and reacts awkwardly to prolonged presence. How exactly have you worked around that?"

"I... haven't. Her first set of food, I merely added trace amounts. Low enough to only make her sick, should it fail. Her body... responded normally. As if it was correct and usual to do."

"You did what?" Chakwas shouted. "We did _not_ authorize undocumented testing, Dr. Salk. She could have been -"

"Bed ridden. He just noted that it wasn't a high enough dosage to kill, Dr. Chakwas." a voice from the hall chimed in.

"Dr. Loran. I see Shepard's tests are done. May I please have your report?" Chakwas muttered, still obviously angry with what she just heard.

"Certainly. Dr. Salk, our patient is clamoring for your attentions to her stomach. Would you be so kind?"

"Of course. I lost track of time. Very stimulating conversation, Dr. Chakwas. Sorry to leave in the middle of it. Please, feel free to include me in further looks at nanite behavior. More than willing to help."

"We aren't done with this discussion, Salk." Chakwas noted, taking the reports from Dr. Loran.

Evatos leaned back slightly. _'EEZO, huh? That's useful...'_ she thought.

* * *

Miranda vaguely acknowledged Shepard's recovery coaches as they left the lab. She had hoped to stay in her private quarters and work on this DNA shift alone, but the lab had needed equipment. She was so close to figuring out what exactly had changed, she could feel it. Pressing the start key, her tests slowly hummed to life. _'What did we change, Shepard...__' _she thought to herself.

Evatos had apparently dropped hovering over her. In the past week, the asari had shown only passing interest in Miranda's work, seemingly turned away by the lack of immediate results. Instead, the asari had been attached to Chakwas almost constantly, to the point that the military doctor could not even right a note down without it being overlooked. Miranda smiled a bit at the thought; the asari must feel that Chakwas's initial successes warranted more focus.

It had taken Miranda a bit of recovery to piece what must have happened in the hangar. After being knocked unconscious, the "commando" must have stepped down and allowed Evatos to set up a scene in which Miranda would feel sympathy and common ground with the asari's purpose. Well, the Matriarchs could take a flying leap. Now, with a few failures under her belt, it seemed the asari were less interested in her talents. _'That's fine. Chakwas deserves some time in the lime light. I'll quietly continue my own projects. Chakwas has short-term, but I... I have long-term.'_ Miranda smiled again, staring at the data as it compiled.

Collecting what she had gathered, Miranda nodded at Chakwas, who nodded back absently, and left the facility. She had more work of her own to do.

* * *

**Athame's Embrace: Recovery Rooms**

Jess dove into her food, ravenous from the day's work. She had been increasingly gaining strength over the past four days, a remarkable feat that was, as far as she knew, unprecedented. _'Whatever that drone did... Well, I can't say it's awful'_ Jess thought to herself. Liara was staring out the window at Nos Arium as vehicles flew past. She looked so pretty, silhouetted by the pale, yellow-white sun. Her crests crackled a little more then normal and Jess saw Liara's hand shoot up to her forehead. _'I wonder what's up with that...'_ Jess thought to herself, shoveling whatever it was that Salk had organized for her as food.

Finishing her meal, so quickly wiped her mouth with a napkin and tried to hobble up behind Liara. The asari maiden seemed preoccupied to the point of negligence, so Jess felt a bit of a fright was in order. Getting up alongside her back, Jess suddenly grabbed Liara around the waist in an attempt to shock her focus back around. Liara tensed, and a biotic field enveloped them both. Jess felt odd, as her blood began at once to almost lift towards the field itself. "Liara? It is just me, Liara. It's Jess."

Liara shook her head, and turned around. Her eyes looked to be partially blanked, as if attempting a meld. She shook her head and once more passed her hand to her forehead. "I'm... sorry, Jess. I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's... What was it you wanted to talk about, exactly?" Jess asked, sitting back on the bed, a bit rattled at what had just happened. She rubbed her forearms, trying to get the prickling sensation in her veins to go away.

"I... The meld that I did to you... When you were unconscious..." Liara began.

"What is it? Did I do something wrong? What can I do to help?" Jess asked, pushing past Liara's attempts to talk.

"Listen. The meld... It was a more permanent form of the common melds used by asari today. An old custom. Well... It was discontinued due to issues of use with other races. Only, Aethyta suggested it could help get you back to yourself, so I did it, and..." Liara was crying now.

"Hey... Hey, it's alright Blue Bird. I don't mind. I'm really happy you helped me out." Jess said, wrapping her arms around the shaking asari's shoulders.

"That... thank you, Shepard. But... I need you to look through my mind now. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to lose myself." Liara said, leaning into Jess's embrace.

"Now? As in, right now?" Jess said, confused a bit. "I mean, yeah, sure, just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it."

Liara gasped a bit, a laugh lacing her tears. "Always so ready to dive into the unknown, aren't we?" Jess shrugged, and Liara continued, "I'm not really sure how to do it... I wanted to ask if you felt you were up to the attempt before I actually brought her with me, but... Well, father said she could help me draw you into my memories and complete the process."

"Ok. Well. When do we do it then? I'm ready when you are." Jess said, unsure of what she was agreeing to.

"I'll let Aethyta know, and drag her here tomorrow to explain how this works exactly to the both of us. Deal?"

"Deal." Jess affirmed, kissing the asari on the forehead before nuzzling her crest. _'Whatever it takes, Liara. Anything.'_


End file.
